Music

Matisyahu told a fan that her baby was "ugly as fuck"

by Richard Howard

You remember Matisyahu, right? He’s the reggae artist that blew up about 10 years ago with huge radio hits like “King Without a Crown” and “One Day.” Part of what was so captivating about the guy was the fact that this talented reggae artist was also a devout Hasidic Jew from the affluent White Plains area of New York.

Sure, it’s shallow, but the whole huge-beard-and-spirituality thing created such a mystique that everyone was super bummed when in 2011 Matisyahu surfaced as a clean shaven, baby-faced everyman and announced “No more Chassidic reggae superstar.” It seems that the he really committed to the ‘everyman’ thing – even to the point of getting into foul-mouthed flame wars on social media. “But surely whatever he’d say couldn’t be that bad,” you might protest. Well…

Okay, lemme back up a bit. Matisyahu is currently out on tour with 311, Sublime with Rome and The Dirty Heads as an opening act – and a number of reviews have been less than stellar. From one reviewer commenting that Matisyahu “spent most of his set standing in the corner making noises and jumping around” to unfavourable comments by concert goers, it’s almost certainly been a bitter pill to swallow for a former chart topper. And then, according to Matisyahu, messages like this have become a regular occurrence:

A little uncalled for, right? Well, after one too many condemnations of his live show, he apparently snapped, resulting in the following unfortunate exchange.

Goddam dude. From shitting on the music of his tourmates, who regularly invite him onstage during their sets, to the obvious focal point of calling a stranger’s baby “ugly as fuck,” that was hella intense. Also, the show was in Houston, not Dallas.

Later that day, though, the singer took to his Facebook to apologize and explain the explosive reaction.

“Where to start? Such a mixture of opinions flying around and at me right now. Let me just say that I don’t have someone running my social media. Every night after my show I go back to my room on the bus and read messages and comments at the end of the night. I’m three months sober and work very hard at it being on a reggae tour and all that. I touch reality and try not run from it. The reason I read messages is because almost every night there is someone who is sick or hurting and finds comfort in my music and usually I interact with them through words or even invite them backstage to meet and talk. It also means that I come across a lot of hate, critique, and opinionated people who find it useful to let me know how shitty they think my music is, or why have I “changed my look” or how could I do this or that. Some musicians out there might have tougher skin but it breaks my heart every night and gets into my head. In my weaker moments I fire back with a response or try to explain myself or defend myself and it usually ends in ugliness. In the words of the Talmud, “if you roll around with someone who is muddy you’re going to get muddy” or something like that. I understand my music isn’t for everyone but I put my heart and soul into every performance. If you don’t like it, fine but why do you need to comment? If I don’t like what someone does I might tell a friend or even talk about it but I’m not gonna go up to the person creating the art and tell them I think it sucks. What good comes from that? And at the end of the day my opinion is just that. An Opinion. There is no definition of good or bad when it comes to music or art. I know I could go out there every night and play the hits and just do what I think people want but when opening up and playing a 30 min set I have to choose. I choose to explore and find a meaningful unique experience in the music and hope that people will connect with it rather then fake it through playing songs that I don’t enjoy playing. To the lady I insulted last night I’m sorry. I got angry and defensive and yes your comments hurt and yes I read all your comments because at the end of the day I feel it’s more important to connect with the people who actually have some purpose or need to be listened to. From now on I will try my best not to respond to negative comments. Fire away! I will keep making the music that I feel is important and if you don’t like it and feel the need to tell me then I accept it all with a broken heart and it will feed the emotion in my music. Have a lovely day. Houston we have landed.

Between battling addiction and being repeatedly attacked with no concern for his emotional well being, it’s easy to see an implosion was inevitable. Still, it’s a little shocking to see the guy who once sang “So when negativity surrounds I know some day it’ll all turn around because… I’ve been praying for the people to say that we don’t wanna fight no more” go nuclear on someone (and her baby) like that, all because she called him out for forgetting what city he was in. Hopefully the fans can ease up on Matisyahu a bit – and not for nothin’, he himself might want to sharpen up his meditation game for those days when the bastards are getting him down.