One from the north, the second from a suburb of Tel Aviv, clearly not the typecast of what you call a typical MC, yet Itay Peled (21) and Yonathan Yehudai (22), or Peled & Ortega as they are more known, have redefined the meaning of MC and helped reshape the Israeli Hip Hop scene and more importantly culture.

Hip Hop grows in the underground, where MCs battle other MCs, Graffiti artists doing their tag wars and DJs and B-Boys learn new moves and tricks, and each spin in his own style. Peled & Ortega sprung from the “PR Trooperz”, a super group of 14 young and promising MCs who were collected by the label “High Fiber” from all over Israel. The duo participated separately in the group’s debut album, “Mitoch Ha’Zohama”, an album which was critically acclaimed and been described as a masterpiece of well conduct Hip Hop, and as an aggressive presentation of the new Israeli Hip Hop sound – a real breakthrough. Peled & Ortega, back then 17 and 18, dominated the album with their MCing skills. After a year of concerts across Israel, and mass media coverage, the two have decided to record an album together as a duo. Following recommendations by other Israeli Hip Hop artists, such as the Dag Nachash, Yossi Fine, Israel's biggest Hip Hop producer, has offered his services as a consultant to production and as mixing and digital mastering engineer.

During their album recordings they never ceased performing and scorched stages and clubs all over the country. The duo is considered as a leading force in the local Hip Hop scene, and they constantly encourage urban culture in Israel. They arrange freestyle sessions all Israel, block parties, and encourage youth to participate in various activities inspired by the Hip Hop elements. The “Peled & Ortega’s Block Party” has become a popular notion for the local scene, and they’ve been invited to do it in Jerusalem, Bat Yam, Tel Aviv to name a few cities. The duo recently started hosting a freestyle session on Israel’s Music Television and on local radio 99FM. On both platforms they freestyle about current events.

Their album, “Mamshichim Livot”, was released via “High Fiber” on March 2007, and was acclaimed as a real breakthrough for Israel’s Hip Hop scene. They were hailed as the real thing in Israeli Hip Hop, and were named many times, even by Hip Hop star Subliminal as the most promising act local Hip Hop has to offer. These days they work on their second album with the leading Israeli Hip Hop producer DJ Ori Shochat.