That’s what makes Shma Yisrael, the first solo album from Shabak Samech’s singer interesting. Instead of odes to wine, women and song, Mookie Koslon, or Mook E as he is now called, sings reggae style about peace and the environment.

Songs like Roots Natty and Where Dem Girls At can come across as fake sounding and reminiscent of the non-Jamaican Canadian reggae singer Snow known for the hit single Informer. The acoustic roots ballads are good, in particular The Earth is Crying and Can’t See. Other songs have a hard hip-hop or dancehall-reggae sound.

The most well known track off the album is Talkin’ About Peace. Takeing a cue from Jamaica's Peter Tosh, the chorus reads: "Everybody is talking about peace, nobody is talking about justice / For the one it is heaven / For the other hell." It’s a song that could lead to multiple interpretations. Mook E isn't the only singer who has mellowed it out this year. As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Oslo Accords, it seems that some Israelis are beginning to sing a different tune, including former hard core rap-rockers.