Global hit: Zohan soundtrack

“You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” could be also be called, “you don’t mess with middle-east stereotypes.”

That goes for its portrayal of both Arabs and Israelis.

No one comes out unscathed.

Even the artists behind the soundtrack fit right in with the vibe.

One of the musicians featured in the Zohan soundtrack even thinks stereotypes drive his band’s own style.

Sha’anan Street: The first producer we worked with said he’s sure hip-hop is going to work within Israel, that it’s going to catch because Israelis have so much to say. They don’t shut up.

That’s Sha’anan Street, lead singer for Israel’s most popular hip-hop group Hadag Nachash.

And this is one of their tracks that appears in “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”

It’s called Ma Sheba Ba, or whatever happens, happens.

It’s a big promotional push anytime a musician gets a song placed in a Hollywood movie.

But it’s huge for a hip-hop band from Israel that’s not very well known outside its own country.

Here’s Sha’anan Street again.

Sha’anan Street: We were blown away. We actually had a show in Los Angeles about 3 or 4 months ago, and there were enormous advertisements wherever we looked. We couldn’t escape building-sized advertisements for the movie. And that’s when it hit us this is pretty damn big. Maybe bigger than anything we ever participated in before. And we’re just waiting to see how far it rolls, how far it takes us in terms of more work, more fun. Middle East, it has a groove, it has a flavor and a feel, and hip-hop is one way of expressing that.

The song is called California.

It’s by the band Hadag Nachash, and it’s on the soundtrack to “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan”.