What It Was Like To Self-deprecating Jewish Rapper Lil Dicky Perform in a Newly Xenophobia Europe
It’s a strange time to be Jewish in Europe right now. Right-wing leaders like Viktor Orban, Marine La Pen, and Geert Wilders are using strikingly recognizable language to describe Muslim refugees, while left-wing political parties across the continent almost uniformly condemn Israel with varying degrees of vitriol. Some Eastern European countries continue to downplay their roles in the Holocaust; other counties, like Ukraine, have made admirable efforts to do the opposite. Meanwhile, Jews have been the victims of targeted attacks in France, Denmark, and England; synagogues and Jewish schools have begun to resemble military fortresses. At the same time, Jews are flocking to cities like Berlin, once an unthinkable place of refuge. And the amount of attacks against Jews seems to be dropping. The fever may be breaking, but the dominant feeling is unease.
These sentiments and facts were on my mind when I went to see a performance by Lil Dicky, one of the best Jewish rappers alive, in Brussels last week. I was particularly wondering how I’d feel, and how the crowd would take it, when he would arrive onstage dressed in a skeleton onesie, and call himself a kike—a common punchline for the rapper whose skills are as sharp as his self-degrading comedic schtick. It would be for the fans. For the laughs. And I didn’t know how I would feel.