Page 54 - Poze Magazine Volume 78

PAGE 54
POZE MAGAZINE

GANGSTA RABBI AND THE KING OF JEWISH PUNK

Steven Paul Lieberman (born June 21, 1958), also
known as the Gangsta Rabbi and The King of
Jewish Punk, (Hebrew name רזאילא ןיב ץרפ ביל Lieberman is often considered an outsider musician,
ידזנ־ה ןלדב־ה or Lev Ava'ran bar-Eli'ezar ha- This has been partially attributed to his lifelong
Bad'lan ha-Naz'ari) is a Jewish-American punk struggle with bipolar disorder which first struck him
rock /metal singer, songwriter, multi- in 1970 at the age of 11, as well as his decade-long
instrumental musician, composer, arranger, fight with progressive leukemia in his later years,
producer and former village comptroller residing which ultimately was deemed terminal and has
in Freeport, New York. He is a Hebrew Nazarite, become a recurring theme in his lyrics. By the end of
the founder of The Bad'lanim, a minority sect of 2017, Lieberman refused all further cancer
.Judaism and a vegetarian since 1995. treatment. From this time, he was in and out of
home hospice care.
He held the Guinness World Record for Longest
Officially Released Song for The Noise Militia at In 2009, Lieberman signed a multi-album deal with
35 hours, 41 minutes and 9 seconds, from Jewish indie label JDub Records taking the place of
December 3, 2020, until October 2, 2021. On Matisyahu on their artist roster. As of the spring of
June 1, 2022, Lieberman's sequel to "The Noise 2011, Lieberman, a town comptroller by trade, was
Militia" entitled The Post-Militia Pogo-Battalion "the world’s only Orthodox Jewish heavy metal
was completed with a duration of 76 hours, 30 musician with a record deal", according to Newsday.
minutes and 27 seconds and was submitted to
Guinness unsuccessfully to reclaim the record. Over his career, he has commercially released 40
During the sessions of The Noise Militia, ,CDs and 38 cassette albums in the underground
Lieberman experimented with the fusion of using the Bop Bop Bigger Bab-èL moniker and
genres where he developed "Militia Punk" a reissued in 2016 for the 25th anniversary of his first
mixture of noise-punk, thrash- metal and cassette album, "Bang the Bass Bopmania" as "Bop
military music. "Bop Bigger Bab-èL featuring Steve Lieberman