The Hip Hop Hoodios, an urban crew that jams together Jewish and Latino cultures in what it calls “post-ethnic punk hop,” will release a new collection of songs—some old, some new—this week. “Carne Masada: Quite Possibly the Very Best of Hip Hop Hoodios,” available this week on iTunes, Amazon and other music download sites, includes classic Hoodios tracks such as “Havana Nagila” and “K#k* on the Mic,” and features provocative new ones that have you wondering whether you should be listening intently to the lyrics or tearing up the dance floor like a tequila-laden Heeb.

“Hoodia Para Mi” parodies the Latin hip-hop songs that describe the sex appeal of Latina women and pays tribute to the beauty and brains of Jewish women; “Asi Loncheamos (Two Matzoh Balls)” is a bilingual rap about the joys of eating – something both the Latino and Jewish cultures know a little about.

“Que Pasa in Israel (Checkpoint C#ler*),” an exclusive free download on jewishjournal.com, is the crew’s first foray into the mine field that is Middle Eastern politics. Josh Norek, one-half of the Hoodios duo, wrote this about the politically-sensitive song: “It’s one of our more political tunes and the first one dealing with Israel/Palestine – albeit in our usual semi-surreal and offbeat manner. The song opens up with dialogue that is obviously set at an Israeli border checkpoint. But rather than a Palestinian asking for permission to come in, it’s a Mexican named Rodrigo who is seeking entry to Jerusalem. He’s being interrogated by the Israeli border guard and being bluntly asked ‘you make a taco?’  I guess subconsciously we also wanted to work in U.S. immigration issues ... after all, we ARE a Latino-Jewish rap group!”