Prior to meeting for the first time, Eprhyme had been a rapper in the Olympia music scene as part of the duo Saints of Everyday Failures,[1][2][3] while Shir Yaakov Feit had informally freestyle rapped and beatboxed with the band Lev Yerushalayim as a yeshiva student in Israel.
[4] The two met in the summer of 2007 at Hazon's Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut, where Epryhme was a fellow in the Adamah program and Feit was a residential employee.
It was produced by Jamie Saft and featured accompaniment by him, Ben Perowsky, and Basya Schechter of Pharaoh's Daughter.
[6][7] An early press release by the band described their sound as "harmonizing Hebrew chant with hip hop, folk rock with electro-pop, love poetry with kabbalistic psychology" and cited The Postal Service, Björk, Beastie Boys, and The Beatles as reference points.
[14] Ezra Glinter of The Forward wrote, "Eprhyme's hard-driving lyrics are tempered and sweetened by Shir Yaakov’s more melody-driven sensibilities.