Antithesis
The Zionist rapper. Recording since 2001. South-London-born, Cambridge-educated, Tel Aviv-resident. The catalogue, the moments and the press, in the order they happened.
By the numbers
South London
Antithesis (born Samuel Green) grew up in a Jewish family in south London, in a household that took the news seriously and an argument even more so. He found hip-hop on pirate radio, found Zionism in the youth movements, and never bothered to choose between them.
He rose through FZY, the Federation of Zionist Youth, and went on to serve as its Mazkir. He had already started writing verses, mostly on the bus home, and was looking for the right reason to record them.
Ima Mechaka Babayit
The reason arrived in the form of a conversation with the father of an Israeli soldier missing in action. Antithesis sat with him for an afternoon, flew to Jerusalem, and recorded the track that week. It was called Ima Mechaka Babayit, mum is waiting at home. He was eighteen years old. Every penny it has made since has gone to MIA causes.
It was not designed as a debut. It became one anyway. The phone started ringing.
Cambridge
Antithesis read Oriental Studies at the University of Cambridge. Between terms he funded, recorded and self-released The Israel Question, his first EP. The pitch was on the sleeve. They kept asking the Israel question, so he made the Israel record.
He kept performing. Synagogue halls, student unions, Friday-night radio slots. He was still the only British rapper writing in this lane and, for a while, the only one anyone was looking for.
The London years
Back in London he released United Kingdom of Racism in 2007, this time written and pressed in the city the title was about. The Jewish Chronicle named him in their Power 100 the same year, the youngest entrant on the list.
In June 2008 he played the Salute to Israel rally on a stage in Trafalgar Square in front of forty thousand people, the first time the Hebrew verse from Ivrit Daber Ivrit went out in public. In 2009 the show London et Kirschenbaum put him on Israeli television, and ROI Community invited him in on the strength of the music.
Outside 10 Downing StreetJC Power 100
The Jewish Chronicle named Antithesis in its annual list of the hundred most influential Jews in Britain. He was the youngest entry on the list.
Trafalgar Square, 2008Trafalgar Square
Played the Salute to Israel rally in central London in front of forty thousand people, debuting the Hebrew verse from Ivrit Daber Ivrit. Largest crowd of his career, still.
London et Kirschenbaum, 2009London et Kirschenbaum and ROI
Performed on the prime-time show London et Kirschenbaum, and was selected the same year to join ROI Community on the strength of the music.
Aliyah
Antithesis made aliyah in the summer of 2010. He filmed the video for Proud to be a Zionist inside the walls of the Old City, released it that summer, and watched it go viral. Ynet ran the video on its front page the day it dropped. The interviews came in three languages by the end of the week.
He kept his London passport, his south-London accent and a working theory that the diaspora is a question, not an answer.
Tel AvivAliyah
Moved permanently to Israel in the summer of 2010 and settled in Tel Aviv. Has been writing from there since.
On the front page of Ynet, 2010Proud to be a Zionist goes viral
Filmed inside the walls of the Old City and released the summer of aliyah. Ynet ran the video on its front page the day it dropped. Still the most viewed track in the catalogue.
Tel Aviv
He writes now from Tel Aviv, where he lives with his wife and three children and works as a qualified Israel tour guide between projects. He hosts Kol Cambridge, a podcast on Israeli music. In 2012 he played the Sittwe Pagoda Festival in Myanmar to a crowd of twenty thousand, the most improbable booking of his career and one of his favourites.
In 2020 he came back with two records. The first was 2020, a grime-leaning single that signalled the new sound. The second was Wiley is a Racist, written and released inside the week of the grime artist’s antisemitic outburst. It was the most listened-to record of his career, picked up by the British press and titles in three countries. Every track has to earn the argument it is making.
Sittwe Pagoda Festival, MyanmarSittwe Pagoda Festival
Took the catalogue to Rakhine State, Myanmar, on the invitation of a local cultural foundation. Played to a crowd of twenty thousand. Still the strangest line on the booking sheet.
Recording, 20202020, the comeback
Came back after years off-record with 2020, a grime-leaning single. Signalled the new direction and trailed the second release of the year.
BBC Radio 1XtraWiley is a Racist
Answered Wiley’s antisemitic outburst with a single written and released inside the week. The track made the British press and was syndicated by titles in three countries. Most listened-to record of the catalogue.
Where he plays
What he offers
Make a booking enquiry →A performance
Full set or short slot, solo or with band. Synagogue halls to festival stages, community events to Jewish societies on campus.
A session for students
Workshops at schools, universities and youth movements on Zionism, identity and writing. Has worked with Jewish day schools and Hillel chapters across three continents.
A talk
Keynote and panel appearances on the Jewish diaspora, hip-hop as a Jewish form, and the post-Wiley conversation. Limmud regular, university circuit, podcast guest.
Press archive
Full press archive →British Israeli rapper Antithesis, one of the world's few Jewish rappers, recently released a song in response to the antisemitic Twitter tirade of British rapper Wiley.
LONDON-born Jewish rapper Antithesis has released a track about the Wiley situation.
The British self-styled Zionist rapper Samuel Green is doing his bit to promote English literacy among Israeli school children.
Antithesis, a rap artist best known for the Jewish and Zionist themes in his music, plans to launch a one-month English literacy event at Maaleh Adumin
Antithesis, rap artist renowned for Zionist and Jewish themes of his music, to kick-off one-month English literacy event at Maaleh Adumim Mall
An innovative program in Ma'aleh Adumim aims to help Israeli teens master English - for a more successful future.
Samuel Green - a London-born rapper better know as Antithesis - is scheduled to perform in Ma'ale Adumim Mall next Thursday to kick-off a one-month read-a-thon
ZIONIST rapper Antithesis is just that: the antithesis of the rapper stereotype.
Self-styled Zionist rapper Samuel Green is becoming a YouTube sensation.