Rory Murray, known by his stage name Ori Murray () is an American-born Israeli rapper, best known as the co-founder and rap vocalist of the band Shtar.

Early life

Murray was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington to an Irish father and a Jewish mother, although he was raised with little connection to

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. His father, Rod Murray, was a high-ranking

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

instructor with a school in Seattle. Ori himself actively trained and competed in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and other disciplines from a young age, including several years as a collegiate wrestler. He was introduced to

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

through albums like

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...

's ''

Quality Control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

'' and the Rawkus Records compilation '' Lyricist Lounge 2'', and was further influenced by his high school

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

class. As a teenager, he would often get into fights at house parties in Seattle's South End. One such fight left him so badly injured that he required metal plates in one leg and was unable to walk on it for a year. As part of his recovery, he worked with

personal trainer A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing m ...

and family friend Yaakov Lunen, an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

who had converted to

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...

. Lunen's influence inspired Murray and his entire family to pursue a deeper relationship with Judaism. Murray began attending a weekly class at a local yeshivah; there, he encountered two rabbis from Aish HaTorah who persuaded him to come study at their yeshivah in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, where he ended up settling.

Career

Murray began rapping professionally while living in Seattle. He recorded his first album at age 19 under the name Madsteez and performed at shows throughout the West Coast. He also performed as an MC and DJ in the city's

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

and

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

scenes. At Aish HaTorah, Murray initially gave up rapping to focus on his studies, until one of his rabbis told him it would be a '' chillul Hashem'' to repress his talents in such a way.

Shtar

In 2006, Murray met fellow Aish HaTorah student Brad Rubinstein, who had previously been a guitarist in the short-lived English

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

band

Lisp Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation. Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...

. They began writing music together and formed Shtar, initially as a duo, before adding a full band to strengthen their live performance. They released their debut album, ''

Infinity Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol. From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...

'' through Shemspeed in 2012, followed by their ''Boss'' EP, which featured Murray's fellow Seattle native D. Black on the song "Rabbit Hole". They competed on the 2015-16 season of the Israeli reality singing competition '' HaKokhav HaBa'', coming in ninth place.

Personal life

Murray currently lives in

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city council (Israel), city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named afte ...

with his wife and children. In addition to his music career, he teaches

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

and works in real estate. He has also written for ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'' as a

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger.

Discography

* ''

'' (2011) * '' Boss EP'' (2012)

References

External links

Shtar official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Ori Living people Jewish American musicians Jewish rappers Rappers from Seattle Haredi rabbis in Israel Baalei teshuva American emigrants to Israel Israeli people of Irish descent Alternative hip-hop musicians Israeli rappers 21st-century American Jews Year of birth missing (living people)