Watch: Chasidic rapper Nissim Black puts hip hop twist on Hava Nagila

A former gangsta rapper who converted to Judaism is releasing his latest track this week, which puts his own unique hip hop twist on a famous Israeli folk song.

Nissim Black, originally from Seattle, Washington, and today living as a strictly-Orthodox Jew in Israel, has penned The Hava Song, which is available on all streaming platforms from Friday.

The new track’s hard-hitting beat derives its melody from the well-known Hava Nagila, which literally means “let us rejoice” and follows on from his recent album, Love Notes (Mixtape) and the mega-hit Mothaland Bounce, which amassed more than four million views on Youtube. 

Of his passion, Black says: “We fall in love with music before we know how to speak, it befriends all of us at an early age. Through life’s ups and downs it always has the right tune or words to comfort us.”