[Moshe Reuven](https://www.instagram.com/moshereuven/) is here to prove his worth in the rap game, one of the first of his kind. Hailing from South Florida, the international recording artist hails from true humble beginnings—coming a long way from getting mixed up in the wrong things as an adolescent. Now, he’s one of today’s rising stars in Hip Hop while simultaneously continuing his success as an entrepreneur and writer.
Turning a negative into a positive, as a teen, Moshe began working on his craft and performing for friends, using written & spoken word as a tool for self expression, and creating uplifting positive music for the masses to relate to. A few eye opening experiences in his youth led him on a tremendous journey of self exploration. Part of this journey included him exploring the depths of his own Judaism, throughout which he became a member of the Hasidic community, in which he found his truth.
Moshe describes his sound as “hipster-y hip hop with more of a spiritual vibe to it. It's focused on lyrics more than sound, and meaning more than superficial things.”
With his debut charting in 4 different countries—US, UK, Canada, & #1 in South Africa—Moshe broke free of his internal chains that were hindering him from pursuing his teenage years passion: hip-hop. Growing up heavily influenced by various hip hop artists to use music as a form of self expression, Moshe creates from a place of vulnerability and combines it with the elements of hip-hop we all know and love.
While nearing a couple million followers on Instagram alone, Moshe prides himself in making a positive impact on the world. In addition, he contributes to platforms such as Forbes and Entrepreneur. _Flaunt_ caught up with Moshe via FaceTime to discuss his roots in South Florida, biggest influences, his near death experience, the inspo behind “You Are Not Alone,” being Hasidic, Russ shouting him out, selling an NFT for $15K for his new single “Wonderer,” and more!
**Being from South Florida, what was the household like growing up?**
I didn't grow up in the Hasidic community, but I was always Jewish. We were like any other part of the world, normal people part of the melting pot of America. My brothers were big hip-hop fans since my youth. I remember being 5 years old listening to Biggie on the radio on my way to school. Because I was so influenced by my brothers when I was younger, hip-hop was the most prominent genre that I listened to. We had various influences across all areas, especially Cooper City, South Florida being part of the multi-diverse culture of America.
**Biggest influences throughout your come up?**
Recently over the past 10 years when I started getting more involved in my roots and spiritual journey, Matisyahu, because he's the only Jewish hip hop artist/reggae artist that was mainstream that was Hasidic. And as I mentioned in an interview I did last month with GQ, Matisyahu was almost all I listened to when I started to explore my Judaism because his music felt to me to be the music that blended both my past musical influences and my journey in my Judaism. Tupac was a big musical influence for me when I was nearing the end of high school. When I was mid-teens, Biggie was big. Lil Wayne, Drake, Travis McCoy, Kanye West- the common people (as well as music I’d find before it went mainstream).
My friends and I would be going to a private school party in a rich neighborhood and the main thing that stuck out to me when an artist like Drake would come on is that there would be a certain vibe that was embedded in the whole culture and lifestyle of that stage of life, and that knowledge of how people contextually listen to music I hoped I’d be able to utilize for the positive some day. I remember in high school the there’s people like Nas, Jay Z, also Kid Cudi was a big influence on me at the time. When I about to be leaving high school and entering college at UCF I began to study artists and music from the 70s and 80s that I felt I overlooked as a younger kid cause I was more close minded of what sounded cool. Artists I’d usually only hear from my parents playing music I wanted to hear other songs of there’s, and hear what they were talking about in their songs from the perspective of my older, wiser self. One thing that stood out to me was that music of earlier years had much more depth to them. I wondered what it would be like if that was introduced to modern music. The main artists of mainstream HipHop were really big for me but in general I’d become attached to certain artists at different periods of my life, learn about how they express themselves with music and what their backgrounds were.
Ultimately, the things that influenced me the most were artists like Bob Marley, Matisyahu, Bob Dylan & John Lennon that utilized music to spread meaning that they’ve discovered or learned about in their lives and that idea stuck with me. Nowadays, I mainly listen to only Jewish music with the exception that I was given permission from a Rabbinic authority (known as a “Rav”) that I can study other forms of music to help me enhance my craft.
**Talk about how your near death experience influenced your music career.**
Those were turning points of my life, we’d party a lot. The near death experience happened at a party, it was an eye opening experience. I had to rethink why I'm here. I realized the reality of the situation: if I were to go that day, what was my story? What did I do here? I had fun, I lived it up. But the things I care about most, did I really perform there? Because all those things are fleeting, after it's done it's done. The core essential things of why you're here in life, that was really bothering me. I saw the reality of what could’ve been if not.
That was big for me. It didn't make me religious, right away at least. It did help me realize that there's something more purposeful I'm here for and I need to figure it out. Whatever I am doing, especially what’s most important in my life. I need to really take those things seriously. The arresting part, I only got a DUI. I was 17 in the suburbs of America, everyone knows everyones. It wasn't a small thing in my community either. Everyone knew who I was, they knew that that happened. It was a scar for a little bit on my reputation. More things happened that night, it was pretty crazy. The main thing there is that I thought I changed after the near death experience thing but I'm still getting in trouble. I had to go to AA, I had to go to all these different things because I blew really high. Overall the experience was really maturing to have to go through at that age.
**How is music a coping mechanism for you?**
It's a form of expression for me. It's a way of understanding myself and my personal things I'm going through. A way of connecting to other people because in some way, we all share similar experiences that are interconnected. It's a way of me being able to relate to others in a way that's not so concrete, a way of becoming closer to God in a sense. Trying to figure yourself out through writing can help you figure out a lot about your journey, a lot about why you're doing things and if it's the right thing to be doing.
**Talk about your new song "You Are Not Alone.” What does it mean during a time like this?**
That was written before COVID, but I realized how it was so meant to be that I was ready to do a debut single at that moment. For me it's about how everyone has a certain part of themselves that they do feel they're in this alone. If you take God out of the equation, that's the biggest aspect to me as far as the song goes. We're all on this journey together with a higher power. Wherever you are, whatever you're going through, you went through a lot of struggle this past year, people think God doesn't appear. He's not so involved in life, yet He feels it more than we feel it. There's people that share the same experiences. We all have our own struggles, our own things. It's a collective of many different meanings based off of what the person connects to most.
**How does it feel to reach #1 for several weeks in South Africa?**
That was really cool. There's a Jewish community there, which is really cool. As I became more a part of my spiritual journey, I'm also a part of the Hasidic community, it's cool to know that the people part of that in South Africa, I was able to touch some ears there. In general to be in multiple countries having charted, it means a lot to me. The whole point is I can connect this to people, it's not about me.
**How did you gain such an international fanbase?**
Various ways. Because I've been in Entrepreneurship and I've been in Start Up, I've been writing for places, I wrote my first article for Forbes 5 years ago. Also sharing, I got really big on social media and started sharing quotes that I thought would connect to people. My whole thing is I want to be able to influence and have an impact on the world. I did quotes, a big thing on Instagram especially. Over time, finding different ways to reach different audiences. It means the world to me, this is really what it's all about.
**Talk about your new song "Wonderer" and selling an NFT for $15K.**
NFTs are a way that you can take music and attach it to… the same way 300 years ago, people are buying the famous artwork of the day and holding it for years. Today it's valuable at multi-millions of dollars. Artists today are able to do that without using a painting. They can use that with a cryptocurrency that's attached to that limited edition thing that exists forever. I was able to sell my first NFT (which is a limited edition of my next song) at $15K, which was a really big thing for me.
**You made $15K from one NFT?**
Yeah, from one NFT. I didn't sell any other editions, just one version. It’s around the song "Wonderer" which is really about how every single person is trying to discover themselves. Ultimately the world either forces us to move in the direction of our true calling and what our truth is, or we could escape it forever. It's really about a message to the world to be able to tap into that truth within ourselves.
**What was your reaction when Russ shouted you out?**
**It** was really cool. He shouted me out probably a month ago. You have his people who are huge fans of him, die-hard fans - he's their favorite artist. They’re reaching out to me and saying they found out about me because of him. Really an amazing experience. Seeing Russ in my DMs when I was listening to his audiobook last year this time, I’d been watching his journey and learning because he teaches a lot about how to navigate the music scene as an independent artist to make it more financially lucrative. I've been paying attention and to see that was amazing for me. It was really special.
**How did he shout you out?**
I write for Entrepreneur magazine, he was discussed in my article. I tagged him in my post in my Story and he saw it. He reshared it and we communicated from there.
**You’re followed by Travis McCoy and other celebs on Instagram. How does it feel to have that recognition?**
There's different artists I've attached myself to learn from how they do this because it's been my self-expression since I was really young. Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes was one of them. I remember taking trips up to visit my brother in college while I was a sophmore in highschool and he was on replay. I reached out to my old friends after I saw him follow me and they all remembered our trips together. To see people that have a huge audience themselves being connected with me on LinkedIn or Instagram, they're following me or listening to my music, my writings, whatever it may be, that's amazing. These people influenced me when I was younger. To know I can influence them back and they can influence the world on a very massive scale, is huge for me.
**Talk about balancing both worlds of being Hasidic and an artist.**
That's the real journey because other types of Hasidim it wouldn't be accepted for me to be doing what I'm doing. \[laughs\] I'm a Chabad Hasid, which Chabad is very open-minded. Very much being involved in the world and playing your role in it, it's very much more accepted. It's really the purpose of life from a Hasid standpoint to keep your values, be true to who you are, but also having an impact on the world in a positive way. It's the journey I expect to be walking in music, also what I had dreamed it to be..
**What’re you most excited for next?**
I'm in touch with a couple major labels about potential work, either releasing stuff together or possibly making something more substantial. I really see that those communications slow down my process. I just had a hit song to my level of being a hit, I want to be able to push that further. I want to drop more music, try to reach further heights with each thing. I’m gonna be dropping music as soon as it makes sense, especially with the sale of the NFT. There's one person that has access to my song right now, my next one I'd love to be able to expand that.
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