Miri Ben-Ari's The Hip-Hop Violinist Features Kanye West, Scarface, Others

Miri Ben-Ari is an Israeli-born violinist who got her start in the prestigious Israeli Army String Quartet which led to her love of jazz. After coming to America to attend the Mannes School of Music she released her debut album, Sahara in 1999. The album received favorable reviews and led her to record The Temple of Beautiful live at the Blue Note Club in 2003. This album showcased her diverse sound and cemented her as a promising jazz musician.

With the abilitiy to play such diverse sounds, she then became a studio musician and was able to catapult herself to the foreground due to her love of hip-hop and r&b. She supplied instrumentation for Wyclef Jean, Britney Spears, and Alicia Keys before her career as an instrumentalist flourished when Kanye West enlisted her to help produce and arrange 80% of his critically acclaimed, commercial smash debut, The College Dropout. From there she supplied the backdrop on Twista's top ten hit, Overnight Celebrity, and her face was shown to the world through constant spins of the accompanying video. Now, she hopes to gain massive commercial success with a unique hip-hop album.

"The Hip-Hop Violinist" was set to arrive in stores nearly a year ago but numerous delays have halted it until September of 2005. It has finally been released and for the most part, the wait was worth it. Miri Ben-Ari serves up a pleasing and diverse blend of hip-hop that is uplifting and unique. Hip-hop fans may not know what to expect with an instrumentalist creating a hip-hop album but they won't be dissapointed with this. Likewise, violin fanatics should be fulfilled to some extent with the incredible craft that Ben-Ari is able to flaunt.