Uriya Rosenman is an Israeli Jewish educator & creator from a small village in Israel. After serving 4 years in the IDF’s special forces and traveling the world for a year, he started studying engineering and participating in the modern "race for success". Influenced by books about spirituality, consciousness, and human potential, he abandoned engineering studies and his mainstream life and went o
n to question his own self and study the universe. In the past 8 years he completed his BA's in psychology and business, and worked in the fields of education, business development and social entrepreneurship in Israel. In June 2018, he independently initiated the "Let's Talk Straight" social project. Inspired by Joyner Lucas' (American rapper) I'm Not Racist music video, Uriya embarked on a journey to create a Jew-Arab rap battle that will convey the complexities in the country, while questioning and challenging the narratives he grew up on. He began his research by touring around Israel, meeting Jews and Arabs familiar with the extremes on both sides, transforming their words into a blunt rap song. Eventually he had some solid lyrics but lacked the authenticity of a face-to-face confrontation between a Jew and Arab. In May 2020, after 2 years of independent research and writing, Uriya and Sameh met through friends and decided to join forces. Sameh 'SAZ' Zakout is a Palestinian Arab singer and actor, grew up in Ramle and has been a professional rapper for the last 20 years, releasing albums and gaining national attention when he vied for a record deal in the 2012 Israeli reality show, “Chai be La La Land.” He has been featured in the 'Rolling Stones' magazine and on 'CNN', and has performed in Europe, the United States, and across Palestine and Israel. SAZ rhymes in Arabic, Hebrew and English and is widely hailed for his beatbox technique. SAZ uses rap music to deliver a message of unity and love and sees his music as a powerful tool for building bridges between people and fighting ignorance and apathy across the entire world. SAZ believes music has the power to make a difference and give pride and hope to all people around the world. After 1 year of mutual work, they released their first video clip. The Jewish - Arab tensions in May 2021 at the time of its release, made the clip go viral, reaching 5 million views on social media and hundreds of millions more through traditional media around the world. The duo focuses on creating artistic content that gives voice to the young generation of their communities. Their goal is to empower the moderate majority, to demonstrate a long-term collaboration between Jews and Arabs with a straightforward approach, and to promote a future of maximum well being for maximum beings.
