(JTA) — Jewish right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro has made his disdain for rap music well-known, tweeting in 2012, “Rap isn’t music. And if you think it is, you’re stupid.”
That made it all the more surprising when Shapiro released his first-ever single on Friday — a collaboration with Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald titled “FACTS.”
Shapiro, the co-founder of “The Daily Wire” and a popular conservative commentator, appears in the music video wearing a sweatshirt that displays his catchphrase “facts don’t care about your feelings.” The release came just days after Shapiro appeared alongside Elon Musk on private tour of Auschwitz.
The song, most of which is performed my MacDonald, mentions a litany of culture war talking points, including guns, pronouns, defunding the police and “woke Karens.” In the chorus, MacDonald says, “I don’t care if I offend you, I was put here to upset you.” MacDonald, a former wrestler, is part of what has become known as “MAGA Rap.”
In Shapiro’s verse, he name-drops popular rappers Lizzo and Nicki Minaj — soliciting a response from the latter — and makes reference to his yarmulke: “Dawg, it’s a yarmulke, homie, no cap.” Shapiro ends by imploring his followers to download the song, saying, “I just did this for fun / All my people download this, let’s get a Billboard number one.”
The song has ascended to No. 1 on the iTunes Store top charts. Shapiro, who changed his profile on X to read “America’s #1 Rapper,” relished the success of the song, while Minaj congratulated him on topping the charts.
While Shapiro’s foray into rap appears to be more an ironic stunt than anything else, it comes just months after the music industry celebrated the 50th anniversary of hop-hop, which was heavily influenced and shaped by Jewish artists. Should Shapiro continue down a path toward rap, he would be joining a long list of accomplished Jewish rappers who have changed the genre.
