When most people are asked “who controls hip hop?” they are unlikely to think of a 67-year-old Israeli Zionist who comes from a family of Israeli spies and state officials. But Lyor Cohen is the real deal. The brash, cigar-smoking 6 ft 5 in head of YouTube Music is the undisputed king of rap, and arguably the most important and influential person in the entire music business.
Entering his fifth decade in the industry, Cohen began his career as the manager of legendary rap group, Run-DMC, and has launched the career of countless hip hop acts, including LL Cool J, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Slick Rick, A Tribe Called Quest, the Beastie Boys, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince (Will Smith).
He later moved beyond just rap and worked with stars like Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Nickelback, The Killers, Shania Twain, and Elvis Costello.
Throughout his career, Cohen has pushed hip hop to become more profitable and corporate-friendly, and has worked hard to root out what he sees as anti-semitism in the industry, and ensure that the medium does not become a vehicle for revolutionary change or Palestine solidarity.
MintPress explores the story of how a white Israeli-American came to dominate rap.
This is part of a series of investigations examining the relationship between the U.S. national security state and hip hop music. “From Fight the Power to Work for It: Chuck D, Public Enemy and How the CIA Neutralized Rap” explained how Washington works with American musicians to promote regime change in foreign countries.
“Rappers For Regime Change: How the CIA Recruits Hip Hop Artists Around the World” exposed a large network of political rappers quietly on the CIA payroll, promoted by the agency to lead color revolutions across the planet.
Building a Hip Hop Dynasty
“Pull up to the curb, drop head, 2-door Rollsing
Dior posing, couldn’t be more chosen
If not, make sure you Warn a Brother, Lyor Cohen”
– Vado, feat. Ludacris and Jadakiss, “Check Em Out”
“Rap mogul” was in many ways an unlikely career path for Lyor Cohen. Born in New York in 1959 to Elisha Cohen, an Israeli secret agent, and Ziva Sirkis, an official at the Israeli Embassies to the United States and United Nations, Lyor spent his formative years living in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Haim, near Netanya. Kfar Haim was named after Haim Arlosoroff, a Zionist negotiator who worked with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, transferring German Jews and their assets to historic Palestine.
Although he attended the University of Miami and lived in the U.S. for the majority of his life, he has never shaken his Israeli accent. Cohen grew up privileged, living in the former Hollywood home of comedian Chico Marx. These features made him stand out even more in the world of 1980s rap music.
After graduating, his mother secured him a job at Israeli state-owned financial institution, Bank Leumi. In the wake of the 1978-1979 Revolution, his primary responsibility was assisting Iranian Jews get their money out of the country and into Israeli hands.
Yet Cohen had his heart set on a much more interesting career. His big break in the music industry came after he met brothers Joseph and Russell Simmons. Joseph was one-third of up-and-coming hip hop crew, Run-DMC. Russell co-founded fledgling record label Def Jam and ran Rush, an arts management company responsible for looking after a number of big-name acts.
In 1984, Cohen joined Rush, working as a road manager for Run-DMC, and helping to manage and promote the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and other acts. He quickly worked his way up the ranks, becoming president, CEO, and a major shareholder in Def Jam Records. There, he helped launch the careers of a host of household names, including Ludacris, Redman, Eric B. and Rakim, and DMX. He also began working with Jay-Z after Def Jam bought out Roc-A-Fella records in 1997.
It is no exaggeration to state that Cohen was primarily responsible for mainstreaming rap and turning Def Jam Records into a powerhouse and a cultural touchstone.
By 1999, he and Russell Simmons decided to sell their remaining shares in the company, pocketing a reported $130 million between them. The buyer was a conglomerate that would ultimately become Universal Music Group. Cohen joined Universal and became the head of Island Records, a legendary label that sported the likes of Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, and Sir Elton John on its roster.
In 2004, he moved to Warner Music, becoming its CEO and president, and mentored the next generation of music executives, such as Julie Greenwald and Todd Moscowitz.
By 2012, however, the music industry was rapidly changing, and Cohen was ready for a new challenge, founding independent entity, 300 Entertainment. The number “300” was a reference to the 300 Spartan warriors who fought at the Battle of Thermopylae, and symbolized Cohen’s vision that a small team of committed and capable individuals could take on the calcifying, backward major labels and win. 300 launched the careers of a number of notable rappers, including Young Thug and Megan Thee Stallion. Warner Music eventually bought the company out for $400 million in 2021.
Cohen was long gone by then, however, as in 2016, he took on his most influential role yet: that of global head of music for Google and Youtube. Over one billion people listen to music on YouTube alone, including 125 million premium paid listeners. In this position, Cohen holds considerable influence over what the world listens to, which artists are promoted, and who is demoted.
In addition, he currently serves on the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and of the National Independent Venues Association, a group of some 1,500 entertainment venues across America.
Throughout his more than four decades in the business, Cohen has developed a reputation as a hard-nosed negotiator with a talent for spotting stars and making money. In 1986, when rap was aggressively not profit orientated, he brokered a historic $1 million marketing deal between Run-DMC and Adidas, the sports apparel company seeing significant increases in shoe sales after the rap group released their hit track “My Adidas.” The moment was described in Rolling Stone magazine as hip hop’s “tipping point,” where the medium crossed over from the underground into the corporate mainstream.
Cohen also pioneered a financial agreement less popular in the industry: the 360 contract. Before the 360 deal, record labels paid for the recording, manufacturing and distribution of music. In return, they took a cut (usually a majority) of the profits from said sales. Artists would make their money primarily through touring and merchandise sales. The 360 deal, in contrast, took a cut of every conceivable revenue stream an artist had, including ticket sales, merchandise, image rights, movie appearances, and advertising deals. Many complained that 360 deals left seemingly popular and successful artists broke or even in debt.
Political Actor
“Like Lyor Cohen, thoughts start flowin’ when I hear a Def Jam”
– MC Jin, 100 Thousand Sold Pt. 2
Cohen has used his considerable influence to shape rap and to promote causes close to him, including that of Israel and anti-Semitism. During the 2024 election campaign, he donated to the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), a lobbying group that funds right-wing pro-Israel Democrats and attacks candidates advocating for Palestinian rights or statehood.
In 2021, for example, the DMFI endorsed little-known but staunchly pro-Israel candidate Shontel Brown in her contentious face-off for Ohio’s 11th congressional district against Nina Turner, a democratic socialist, national co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 election campaign, and an outspoken critic of Israel’s policies.
Vast amounts of pro-Israel money flowed into Brown’s campaign, helping her to defeat Turner. In her acceptance speech, Brown praised Israel and later thanked the Jewish community for “help[ing] me get over the finish line.”
The DMFI ran the same playbook against Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, and the organization continues to play a key role in stamping out left-wing insurgents within the Democratic Party.
Cohen has also opened his checkbook to directly bankroll pro-Israel Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer and Cory Booker.
In October of 2023, Cohen – who usually avoids the limelight – took to the stage at the Spirit of Life gala in Los Angeles to denounce Hamas’ “brutality” “slaughtering innocent children, women, and men, just because they were Jewish,” and call for a release of captured Israelis.
He later signed an open letter decrying opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza as inherently racist anti-semitism.
“Hamas, Iran, and their allies and ideological sympathizers in the West have flooded the world with their hateful lies and antisemitic incitement since October 7 — lies designed to demonize Israel, the Jewish people, and their supporters,” the letter begins, taking aim at, “well-meaning celebrities and public figures have been manipulated by this constant stream of misinformation, which they have also helped to amplify.”
The statement’s claims become increasingly extremist themselves, claiming that the phrase “Free Palestine” is “a call to violence” against Jews. Cohen and the other signatories categorically reject that Israel is carrying out a genocide, arguing that accusing Israel of such crimes is a disgusting “blood libel.”
At the same time, however, they insist that the October 7 attacks themselves constitute a “genocidal war on Israel,” and that Hamas alone is responsible for all the deaths caused. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza is a strategy of Hamas,” they explain, as Hamas “leav[es] women and children above ground to be used as their human shields.”
Perhaps the most extreme and contentious statement that Cohen signed onto frames Israel’s murder of hundreds of journalists as justified. “The vast majority of ‘journalists’ pumping out propaganda in Gaza are, in fact, members or supporters of the terrorist organizations themselves,” it claims.
The letter was organized by the Creative Community for Peace (CCP) and signed by many of the most influential executives in the music industry, including multibillionaire entertainment kingpin Haim Saban, Spirit Music Group chairman, David Renzer, and former Atlantic Records Group CEO, Julie Greenwald.
The CCP – an organization MintPress has previously profiled – is an entertainment industry pressure group working to oppose the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and stymie anti-Israel sentiment within the field more generally.
Mr. Cohen: Israel’s James Bond
“It’s summertime, but it’s like snowin’ in my watch.
Check the Funk Doc, the Lyor Cohen of the block.”
–DJ Envy feat. Redman, “So Vicious”.
Cohen’s parents were, if anything, even more involved with the defense and promotion of Israel than their son. Ziva Serkis met Elisha Cohen when she was a nurse tending to his headwounds sustained during the Nakhba – the 1948 ethnic cleansing of around 750,000 Palestinians that allowed for the creation of the State of Israel.
Elisha was a member of the elite Palmach strike force and served in the Harel Brigade, commanded by future prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Harel Brigade is infamous for its many crimes in 1948, including carrying out biological warfare against the region’s indigenous population.
After the war, the Cohens moved to New York City, where both would work at the Israeli Embassy, Ziva as an official, and Elisha as security. They would later divorce.
After the 1968 war, Israeli fighters, security, and secret agents were in high demand across the world, and Elisha moved to Nigeria to work on a number of projects. There, he let it be known that he was working for Israeli state intelligence outlets, Shin Bet and the Mossad.
Cohen, an investigation from Israeli outlet Haaretz claimed, spent much of his time building close relations with senior officers in the Nigerian military. But he also forged ties with anti-government rebels in the secessionist state of Biafra.
As the brutal civil war was raging in Nigeria, he was captured by General Olusegun Obasanjo, who accused him of building installations and providing smuggling equipment to the rebels. Far from denying it, Cohen responded “we can also build for you” – a response that evidently impressed Obasanjo.
Cohen spent many years working with the Nigerian military and, in 1984, just as his son, Lyor, was leaving his job at the Israeli bank to try to make it in the music industry, Elisha returned to Nigeria for perhaps his most controversial job yet.
A military coup the previous year had catapulted many of Elisha’s old contacts into senior positions in the government. They wanted him to find and kidnap the previous Minister for Transportation, Dr. Umaru Dikko, who had become a scapegoat for the new regime. For this, Cohen was to be paid between $3-5 million.
Dikko had fled to London, so Cohen put together a crack team of Israeli and Nigerian operatives to carry out the intercontinental operation. On July 4, 1984, as he was leaving his home, Cohen’s team surrounded Dikko, bundled him into a van, and drugged him with sedatives. The plan was to keep him sedated, force him into a diplomatic crate and place him into a Nigerian cargo plane waiting at London’s Stansted Airport. He would then be flown to Nigeria, where Cohen and the military junta were waiting.
The plan failed, however, because Dikko’s secretary unexpectedly arrived at his address, just as the incident was occurring, and notified local police, who ignored the diplomatic cargo identifications, and released him.
The event caused a worldwide scandal. The four operatives on the ground (three Israeli and one Nigerian) were quickly arrested, and given long prison sentences. But as soon as British authorities identified Cohen as the mastermind, the U.K. Ministry of Defence unexpectedly shut the investigation down entirely.
Although there has never been any official confirmation that Cohen was indeed a Mossad or Shin Bet operative, his second wife, Susan, continued to believe that he was.
Haters Gonna Hate
“CEO? The next Lyor, no, the next leader of the whole free world!”
– Jay Z., “Ignorant Shit”
Lyor Cohen has a long history of using his influence to wheedle out artists with problematic viewpoints. In 1989, he successfully pressured Public Enemy frontman Chuck D to fire band member Professor Griff after he made controversial and anti-semitic remarks to The Washington Times.
Griff, the band’s “Minister for Information,” was responsible for most of Public Enemy’s political direction, infusing it with the message of Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panthers. With Griff gone, Public Enemy’s message became significantly less radical, to the point where today, Chuck D and Lyor Cohen have teamed up with the State Department to use rap music to promote regime change around the world.
Shortly after Griff’s defenestration, another band member, Flavor Flav, went through a number of controversial incidents. In 1991, he pled guilty and was imprisoned for domestic violence. Two years later, he was charged with attempted murder and imprisoned for shooting his neighbor. He also was at the center of a string of other domestic violence cases (including one where he tried to stab a child) there were no calls for him to be censured, and he remains in Public Enemy to this day.
Lupe Fiasco’s career was similarly derailed by Cohen, at least in his own telling. The rapper said that Cohen attempted to pressure him into signing an onerous 360 deal, suggesting his future would be in jeopardy if he did not agree. “Lyor was like, ‘Yo if you don’t sign this 360 deal, we’re not promoting your records,’” he said. “I didn’t sign, and my career was like ‘goodbye’. My career ended at [my third album] ‘Lasers,’” he said.
Lupe Fiasco is a passionate supporter of Palestinian liberation, regularly sporting the flag at his shows. One of his most critically acclaimed songs, “Words I Never Said,” included a searing critique of U.S. foreign policy: “Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist. Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit.”
Despite being critically acclaimed as one of the most skilled lyricists in the business, Lupe Fiasco’s career did indeed begin to nosedive after “Lasers” and “Words I Never Said.” He became increasingly jaded with the industry, and, in 2016, directly referenced Cohen’s treatment of him in the freestyle track, “N.E.R.D.” where he said, “Artists gettin’ robbed for their publishing by dirty Jewish execs who think that it’s alms from the covenant.”
The backlash to the freestyle was intense. After the Anti-Defamation League publicly condemned him, the track was pulled from Soundcloud for hate speech. His upcoming albums were cancelled, and he announced his retirement from making new music (although he would later return).
A similar occurrence happened to Yasiin Bey (a.k.a. Mos Def). Bey, who, like Fiasco, is Muslim, also addressed the power and influence of those at the top of the music industry in his song, “The Rape Over,” obliquely referencing Cohen in the lyrics:
“Old white men is runnin’ this rap shit
Corporate forces runnin’ this rap shit
Some tall Israeli is runnin’ this rap shit
We poke out our asses for a chance to cash in”
Like with Fiasco, the song was immediately denounced as hate speech, including by the Creative Community for Peace, and was essentially banned, being removed from his album by the record company.
Where’s the Beef?
“Tell Lyor I need a million for my monologues. A small price for my cocaine catalog.”
–Pusha T. “Cook it Down (Freestyle)”
Cohen is undoubtedly brilliant and successful at what he does. His tactics and negotiating styles are legendary, but have made him many enemies over the years. Social media is festooned with videos of rappers recounting their run-ins with him.
Beanie Sigel, for instance, stated Cohen’s brash insults and his insinuation that he was illiterate caused him to pull a gun on him. Big Daddy Kane said he and his crew almost lynched Cohen. And Suge Knight spat in his face after Cohen lowballed him during a business negotiation.
Method Man complained that Cohen’s predatory tactics have left rappers broke, while he sits on a net worth rumored to be north of $170 million. “How many old artists and entertainers are left with the bag? It’s not many of them. But you have still got your Lyor Cohen’s who have still got the bag,” he said. “How the fuck did we get back to minus – not even a whole fucking penny but a portion of a penny – and the rest going to someone who doesn’t even make music at all? He just has a platform?” he added.
Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash, a longtime associate of Cohen, has gone further, describing him as a “culture vulture” – someone from outside a culture who is there to exploit it for profit. Dash accuses Cohen of looking past Black candidates to appoint Jews like Julie Greenwald and Todd Moscowitz to top positions in hip hop, despite their lack of knowledge or familiarity with the genre in order “to further control our culture.” “He is the cancer for the culture,” he told The Joe Budden Podcast.
Cohen admits that he can be a tough negotiator, but rejects any accusation of serious impropriety. “I’m a carnivore — I’m not a vegan. I’m a predator. But I don’t do anything illegal,” he told The Financial Times.
Songs of Subversion
“Your mind I’m blowin’, cash I’m stowin’, without you knowin’
While I rustle up dough like Lyor Cohen”
– Nice & Smooth, “Hot Shit”
Cohen’s position at Google and YouTube is surely the most influential post he has held. As the company’s global head of music, he helps shape tastes and curate what the public around the world listens to. And he has used this position to willingly team up with the United States Department of State to use music as a vehicle to push for regime change across the planet.
In 2024, Cohen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken jointly announced the creation of the new Global Music Partnership program, a scheme directly modeled on the CIA’s successful Cold War-era attempts to use American artists to help force through color revolutions in targeted countries.
In the Congo, the CIA used a U.S. government-sponsored Louis Armstrong tour as a cover to send its agents deep into the country, gathering information on newly-elected president, Patrice Lumumba. The CIA considered Lumumba an “African Fidel Castro” and worked to successfully assassinate him, plunging the country into decades of dictatorship, from which it has never recovered.
Meanwhile, the CIA flooded Eastern Europe with American music with more than a hint of regime change about it.
Referencing these events, Blinken said during the program’s announcement, that “America’s secret weapon is a blue note and a minor chord. Music is such a powerful diplomatic force because, I think, it taps into something fundamental, universal.” “In Berlin, just before the wall came down, Bruce Springsteen played to the adoration of countless fans.”
Cohen said he was pleased to be helping the State Department “leverage global events.” “We will utilize major international gatherings to inspire action,” he added. What exact sort of “global events” and “actions” Blinken and Cohen had in mind are open to interpretation.
A number of rappers, including Chuck D and Armani White signed on to the program, despite its history of being used to depose Black leaders.
Spies in Our Midst
“The Lyor Cohen of Dior Homme
That’s ‘Dior Homme,’ not ‘Dior, homie’
The crib Scarface, could it be more Tony?
You love me for me, could you be more phony?”
–Kanye West feat. Rick Ross, “Devil in a New Dress.”
Today, Cohen is just one of a host of Israelis in senior, influential positions at YouTube. The company’s longtime vice-president and chief marketing officer for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, Riki Drori, is a former Israeli soldier, consulate communications manager, and chief communications advisor for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Meanwhile, YouTube’s global head of crater programs, Netta Gross, is a former Israeli military space satellite officer.
More worrying is the trend of YouTube promoting ex-Israeli spies to the upper echelons of its organization. One example of this is product strategy and operations executive Naama Citron-Topf, whose LinkedIn profile notes she received the Unit 8200 Award of Excellence while serving in Israel. Unit 8200 is the Israeli Defense Forces’ most elite spying organization, responsible for cyberwarfare and psychological operations worldwide.
Rappers for Apartheid
“Dior Cold when I got ice on,
Lyor Cohen, plus I got the hype y’all feed off”
–Lady London and Mila J, “D4M”
Music has always been a battleground. And many industry executives have made Israel a centerpiece of their politics, attempting to promote the Jewish State and attack its opponents at every opportunity.
Billionaire entertainment executive Haim Saban, for example, is the largest individual fundraiser for the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF), a charity that raises money to buy equipment for IDF soldiers. “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel,” he said. He has supported AIPAC and attacked Democrats insufficiently enthusiastic about the country. In 2010, he attempted to pressure CBS to ditch Oliver Stone’s documentary series and pushed the industry to cancel him due to what Saban considered Stone’s anti-Semitic beliefs. He is widely identified as being the author of President Joe Biden’s Israel policy.
Another executive working to promote Israel’s image is Cohen’s longtime partner at Rush and Def Jam, Russell Simmons. Emails published by Wikileaks show that Simmons was part of a large clique of entertainment executives working alongside Israeli government and military officials behind the scenes to promote Israel. Some even worked on a conspiracy to cancel left-wing film director Ken Loach.
Simmons specifically worked on improving Israel’s floundering image among the Black community. When asked if he had any ideas on how to do this, he said, “Simple messaging from non Jews specifically from Muslims promoting peace and Israel’s right to exist…We have resources and the desire to win rather than lose the hearts of young Muslims and Jews.”
What these resources were, he explained:
“We have hundreds of collaboration programs between Imams Rabbis and their congregations. We have many respected imams who would join former chief rabbi metzker [sic] rabbi Schneier and non Jews in promoting the Saudi peace plan.”
“Through this campaign we will be helping Israel,” he concluded.
In short, then, hip hop is a product of African American culture. But it is not owned and controlled by that community. Lyor Cohen helped shape the genre more than perhaps any other individual. The son of an Israeli secret agent and a state official has put his own stamp on the music, and worked hard to eradicate anti-semitism in the industry. He has also made his views on Israel and Palestine well known. More concerning still is his collaboration with the State Department on regime change and psychological operations masquerading as cultural programs. Yasiin Bey is right: this tall Israeli really does run the rap game.
