> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.jewsrock.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Politics and prose
- URL: https://www.jewsrock.org/politics-and-prose/
- Published: 2005-10-26T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T22:08:34.000Z
- Author: JewsRock
- Tags: Blog

*by Izzy Grinspan*

There was a mysterious e-mail in my inbox today: Chopped Herring Records promising an exclusive track featuring a “very special guest MC” (the emphasis is theirs). Called “Happy September 11” and available [here](http://www.choppedherringrecords.com/?ref=jewsrock.org), the song is a fairly predictable diatribe about the sorry state of the world since the events of 2001\. It’s got a Jewish angle – “the lunar calendar is more accurate anyway” – and a sad, almost klezmer-esque backing track, but it’s mostly exactly what you would expect from a bunch of lefty hip-hop guys.

But wait. Who is this very special guest MC? Why is he so nasal, and so familiar? Why do I keep expecting him to say something hilarious about, like, Jane Pratt, even as he’s raging against our current political mess? Could it be?

Yes, it could. [MC Paul Barman](http://www.jewsrock.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=challah.view&page=B), every Brown University student’s favorite white rapper, has gone topical. It’s weird, a little creepy. I’m not sure what to make of it. But in the meantime, while I’m pondering, you should check out [this](http://www.mvremix.com/urban/interviews/mcpb052.shtml?ref=jewsrock.org) fairly recent interview with Barman in the Canadian (and also New Jerseyite) webzine MVRemix. It includes the following exchange:

MVRemix: I don’t know how you’re going to take this question. But I was debating whether or not I should ask this, and I’ve decided to just ask you straight out. Do you see yourself as the Jesus Christ of white suburban Jewish kids in New Jersey who aspire to be MC’s?

MC Paul Barman: Only in the sense that I’ve occasionally had long curly hair and a beard.