Rapper Matisyahu set to release holiday treat

Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:35 AM ET

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will offer fans a holiday treat with the CD/DVD set "No Place To Be," due December 26 via Epic.

The CD sports seven tracks, among them two versions of the Police's "Message in a Bottle" -- a studio version recorded with the legendary Sly & Robbie and a dub version produced by Bill Laswell.

Also featured are the Laswell-produced studio cuts "Chop 'Em Down" and "Warrior," the Sly & Robbie-helmed single "Jerusalem (Out of Darkness Comes Light)" and alternate mixes of the latter cut plus "Youth."

A video for "Jerusalem" was recently crafted by Motion Theory, the company behind Beck's "Girl" and the Jay-Z/Pharrell Williams commercials for Hewlett Packard.

The DVD chronicles a Matisyahu concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, in December 2005, enriched with spontaneous performances on the streets of Jerusalem and interviews.

Matisyahu is expected to tour extensively in 2007, but for now, the only shows on his schedule are a December 13 gig in Washington, D.C., and Hanukkah run in his New York homebase on December 16-17 and 19 at Hammerstein Ballroom.

Reuters/Billboard