Earlier today, gold-selling Israeli rapper Sagol 59 and his cutmaster DJ Caress did an in-store performance at Music House on Keren HaYesod in Jerusalem, drawing forth a little pre-Shabbat funk to resurrect the sector. Among those who turned out for the event were the best and brightest of J-Town’s underground hip hop scene, including A7, Rocky B, and DJ Markey Funk. Even yours truly, Mobius 1, threw down on the mic, in what became an eventful and enjoyable impromptu freestyle session.

Sagol gets nasty.
Caress cuts wax.	Keep on rockin’…	Markey Funk in effect.
A7 rips the mic.
Rocky B goes punch for punch.

Sagol opened the show with two performances on acoustic guitar, including a recently penned song lamenting the reelection of George Bush and a cover of Neil Young’s classic “Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World.” After a journey through his popular favorites, he closed out the show by debuting his latest track, “Take It To The Microphone,” his comeback to “59 Seconds of Fame,” a song appearing on Subliminal’s crew, TACT (Tel Aviv City) Family’s latest release, All-Stars, in which Young E, the younger brother of The Shadow, talks unnecessary smack about Sagol, proliferating the on-again-off-again beef between the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem hip hop scenes, which seem to be drawn across commercial versus underground, and right- versus left-wing lines.

To watch Sagol’s performance of “Take It To The Microphone” click here.

Here’s a crude translation of Sagol’s first verse:

What I’m gonna say now is gonna hurt a bit
Israeli hip hop’s not dead, it just smells funny
But we’re going to be the last men standing
After all the kids with the spoons up their noses
vanish into polyphonic ringtones
We’ll keep on setting the tone
While they’ll keep spreading their legs like Sharon Stone
Cuz my basic instinct is to be an MC
I’m not a sissy
Can’t afford productions like Missy

Following his performance, the Israeli Interweb was instantly aflutter with talk of the rivalry. Check out the play by play at Tapuz.