<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" ESQ: So if the best rapper in the world is white and the best golfer black, what about the best reggae artist in the world being a Hasidic Jew? M: Wow. It&amp;#039;s kind of funny to think about it that way. I guess it&amp;#039;s a weird phenomenon. But it&amp;#039;s also very cool that anyone could think that. It means that we&amp;#039;re making a connection on some level. ESQ: What do you suspect people are connecting to? M: On one level, it&amp;#039;s the music. And I think they like the story behind the music -- the ideas of hope, faith, and transcendence. I think part of it is that at the end of the day, I don&amp;#039;t think I&amp;#039;m such a spectacular guy. And people might relate to that.  ESQ: Is novelty a dirty word in the Matisyahu household? M: The most a lot of people know about Hasidic Judaism is from the movie Yentl. So, at first glance, if you don&amp;#039;t know the music or the story, it looks like novelty. Historically, when someone has tried to combine two cultures that are seemingly so different, it&amp;#039;s with humor. Once people get past that and see that spirituality is the obvious link between my culture and the culture of reggae, they&amp;#039;re pleasantly surprised.  ESQ: Your hats have become a trademark, like LL Cool J&amp;#039;s Kangol or Slash&amp;#039;s top hat.  M: You have to go to Brooklyn for them. During Hanukkah, I loaned one of my hats to a guy we brought onstage to light a menorah. Then he dove into the crowd with my hat and I never saw him again. Our next stop was in Vermont, and then it was Buffalo. It took me until Detroit to find another one. ESQ: The moral here is don&amp;#039;t leave home without an extra hat. M: Indeed. I learned my lesson. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a1313/esq0406music-64-2/>