Banjamin Landy Pavlon is a former pro skater who has wisely pivoted out of the hurt game, in order to preserve his bones, joints and overall quality of life. That pivot brought him to rap, a genre he’s using to highlight the customs and culture of Judaism, an obscure pre-Christian sect he was born into on the shores of sunny Florida.
Less charitable critics might frame all this as some kind of cheap gimmick to juice up an otherwise unremarkable rap career, but anyone out here naming their songs “Hanukkahween” or “Jew on the Canoe” is clearly coming from a place of respect, even reverence.
The music itself is straightforward post-promethezine rap product, but BLP Kosher distinguishes himself with his effort. Where contemporary major label minstrels like Jack Harlow lose themselves, and most of their consonants, embracing the mushmouth stereotypes they’re snow aping, BLP Kosher is actually trying to rap. Bar after bar after bar, he is enunciating, dropping symmetrical rhyme schemes and setting up actual punchlines.
The problem is, they’re all pretty fucking vapid. That’s inevitable, and it is sadly unfair to expect more from a kid his age. Most “wordplay” in rap barely even rises to the level of being clever, just rote little entendre games and Vaudeville-sized winks at the audience. BLP Kosher’s reference matrix is a tangle of Jew puns and sports references, all framed as the usual battery of Broward County gang brags: bricks, cannons, choppers and dead opps.
Shit is boring, and that is precisely why his gimmick is so crucial. There is nothing else to differentiate him outside of the hair and the schtick. Yung Kosher is a human-sized cry for attention with no real message behind it. Our modern world is full of them, everywhere you turn. It’s exhausting.
As for the schtick, there’s not a lot to unpack there. Jewish rappers were a novelty for a brief, shining moment there, but that moment was 40 fucking years ago. From MC Serch to the Beastie Boys, from Aesop Rock to Ill Bill, from Kosha Dillz to Drake, there’s nothing new being brought to the table here past the dress code.
So while this isn’t nearly as vapid as what that little Ian creep is selling, it’s still novelty rap at best. I respect the fact he is clearly trying, but he’s also clearly capable of trying a lot harder. Thanks to his gimmick, he doesn’t have to. Two Dickies, mostly for the fun & funny video.
