Show & Prove: BLP Kosher
Words: Peter A. Berry
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Winter 2024 issue of XXL Magazine, on newsstands now and available for sale on the XXL website.
“I don’t know what the f**k I would look like if I wasn’t from Florida,” BLP Kosher says over a Zoom call, his wicks poking out the side of the black shiesty he’s wearing on a humid August afternoon. It’s a statement as much as the start of a fun, theoretical exercise. Even for an expansively ironic internet milieu, Kosher’s aesthetic is unorthodox.
The 24-year-old rapper usually rocks a customized kashket in honor of his Jewish heritage, but his hairstyle remixes Hasidic tradition; his one-time payot curls are twisted into Haitian wicks, and he swirls it all together with skater bro attire. A cynic might call it trollish branding—jarring clickbait for virality. But more functionally, it’s the organic result of a Jewish upbringing in Broward County, Florida.
“It’s really that brackish water we’re surrounded by that makes everybody a different breed,” explains BLP, whose rap moniker is a combo of his government name, Benjamin Landy Pavlon, plus the Hebrew word kosher, which means food and drink that complies with Jewish dietary laws.
Looks aside, BLP Kosher’s been showing he belongs to a distinct brand of Florida spitters for a while now. Since emerging with tracks like “Cheap Gas” in 2022, he’s earned millions of streams through deadpan raps that can be as brazen as they are emotionally revelatory, as silly as they are skillful. Tracks like “Special K” blend humor, playful menace, and sly nods to his Jewish heritage: “In Coral Springs, masked up, I’m lookin’ like I Robb Bank$/And I’m forever smokin’ Nazis, I’ma pass the blunt to Anne Frank.” To date, the song has earned over 40 million streams on Spotify.
Kosher has found himself following in the footsteps of the graduating class of rap stars from the Sunshine State. Cosigns from faves like Kodak Black prove he’s racking up praise as fast as his YouTube views. But he’s got loftier benchmarks to reach.
“I want to make the world a better place as best as I can,” BLP maintains. It’s a grand plan coated in the humility to say he’s just a man. It’s part of a wide-eyed altruism his mother embedded in him years ago. Raised in Deerfield Beach, Fla., he remembers her Saturday lessons in Jewish morality. “I’ve learned all the best things that I have learned from that,” he says.
Those teachings would help fill the gaps that weren’t being bridged by textbooks. Troubled by what BLP describes as adversarial classmates and teachers that weren’t much better, he stopped attending Boca Raton High School after only lasting a few hours during his first year. He told one of his teachers that it just wasn’t going to work and called his mom to apologize to her for quitting. He recalls keeping it real with his first teacher.
With school out of the picture, Kosher would take the train to Hialeah Market in Florida, where he and friends would film themselves performing various kickflips and other bits of flashy skateboard stuff. These guerilla skate sessions led to Ocean’s 11-esque scheming; Kosher remembers his friends taking turns distracting courthouse officials so they could pull off Vine-worthy tricks at the courthouse. Getting chased off the premises of various area properties added a philosophical layer to the aerial thrills. “The cool thing about it is it just makes the word ‘no’ really [lead to] new opportunities expanding from that,” Kosher expresses.
BLP Kosher grew a bond with local skaters and area Haitians throughout this period. His friend Charmane styled his payot curls into wicks as a thank you for helping Charmane say a special prayer for his recently deceased girlfriend. While Kosher’s skateboard skills continued to grow, he still had to work two day jobs. He knew pro-skating wasn’t in his future, but rhyme sessions and the words of a friend made him believe a career behind a microphone was.
Kosher had always loved listening to Florida rappers like 9lokknine and Kodak Black but hadn’t considered taking rapping seriously. That changed when his friend Jew Shiesty convinced Kosher to record more often. Kosher’s debut release, “Sweet Potato,” is a playful showcase of his potential, but it needs a lot of polish. Released in December 2020, the Luhgary-assisted track was mixed so poorly that it would only play out of one speaker. But Kosher had found a new source of dopamine. “Coming up with a new bar is like landing a new [skateboard] trick,” he explains.
By late 2021, Kosher and Shiesty had formed a duo called Dreidel Twinz. Together, they’d travel to local clubs to perform, even if audiences hadn’t exactly warmed up to them yet. “We basically got booed off,” Kosher admits. However, further encouragement from Shiesty and lessons from Kosher’s past as a skater helped him keep his resolve. “If you’re comfortable as a street skater, you’re comfortable striving in places where you’re not accepted,” Kosher shares.
After Shiesty’s untimely passing in August of 2022, Kosher began taking his rap aspirations more seriously. Less than a month later, Kosher used his TikTok account to rap a snippet of “Cheap Gas.” Naturally, Kosher’s appearance gets people’s attention. However, producer Nate B, who made the “Special K” and “Skidoo” beats for the rapper, noticed BLP’s distinct cadence just as quickly.
“It’s uncatchable, but catchable,” Nate describes. The authenticity behind Kosher’s bars also stood out. “He’s saying things that he did before,” Nate adds but admits he wasn’t an immediate fan. “When I first heard him, I was confused,” Nate recalls. “But I kept listening to him, and it grew on me.” Kosher’s increased streaming numbers were evidence of a bigger growth spurt.
Since “Cheap Gas,” BLP Kosher’s fortified his status with projects like BLP Kosher and the Magic Dreidel (2022), Bars Mitzvah (2023), Scarecrow (2024) and its deluxe edition. His music received a bigger push when he signed a one-project deal with industry heavyweight Joie Manda’s Encore Recordings in 2023.
In addition to a sizeable catalog, the Down South spitter has traded bars with BabyTron and collected over 247,000 subscribers on YouTube. Looking ahead to 2025, he plans to bring his quirky brand of lyricism international with a European tour. There’s also a new project he’s got in the making. Those are just incremental steps to a plan that’s as ambitious as it is noble. “I got to bring something to rap,” Kosher says. “I want to honor it. I want to change the world through music.”
Listen to BLP Kosher’s Scarecrow Deluxe Album
The Winter 2024 issue of XXL magazine featuring BLP Kosher’s Show & Prove interview is available for purchase now and is on newsstands. The issue also includes GloRilla and Sexyy Red on the cover, conversations with Ab-Soul, Dej Loaf, Quando Rondo, Ferg, Nav, Kash Doll, Sauce Walka, Anycia, Baby Kia, OsamaSon, Sugarhill Ddot, dancehall artist Skillibeng and producer Ace Charisma. There’s also a look at the new season of the Netflix reality competition show Rhythm + Flow through the eyes of its judges Latto, DJ Khaled and Ludacris, a discussion with high-powered hip-hop attorney Drew Findling, plus 18 hip-hop heavyweights discuss the state of lyricism.
