Today we’d like to introduce you to Liat “LiHot” Freidberg
Hi Liat, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Born and raised in Israel. I started writing songs in english when i was 11 with my friend who played guitar. In high school I got accepted into a music class in an art school even tho I thought that I wasn’t gonna be accepted. During my high school years I met the bass player who I ended up forming my ska band, Cuban B, who i was with for over 7 years. With Cuban B I released a couple of albums, EP, live show DVD and went on a European tour with. During my mandatory army service I started feeling unwell, no one including myself had any idea what was going on and how to make me feel better. That became my main struggle in life, along side navigating through the music world. very quickly I lost hope in conventional docs and started looking for answers in the holistic world. even tho a lot of the treatments and lifestyle changes that I’ve done has helped control some of the symptoms, non of them really cured me. While doing the band thing, I also started making beats, which is something that wasn’t very common for a female to do (2003), what ignited that was the fact that my voice wasn’t doing well and also a need to be in control… during the peek of my career, after my army service and after 2 years of music school in a Berkley branch in Israel, I’ve decided to move to LA. not really something an unhealthy person does but I needed a change. Enrolled into Musicians Institute in Hollywood and started my new journey, studied with the likes of Anderson Paak. in 2013 I went on the warped tour with my dubstep duo Dirty Egoz and not long after I started my solo career when I focused a lot on my self produced songs. I was also introduced to the legendary Kool Keith and started working with him plus joined him on his west coat tour. Our song Fly, which i produced came out on Ice T’s label Final Level Music. in 2017 I was finally diagnosed with a mold illness, which answered so many questions and I started my journey of healing from mold, which is possible but very complicated to do. During covid I moved back home to Israel, not knowing that my dad who was a well known entomologist was gonna pass away from Covid 6 months later. during my time in Israel I worked on my doubt solo album with a few producers and wrote my first hip hop song in Hebrew (Choo Choo) with a famous Israeli artist. a few weeks after the biggest massacre that happened to the jews since the holocaust, I’ve decided to move back to LA. So now I’m here, finishing my album finally and still working hard on healing.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Defiantly dealing with health issues is the major one. from living the rock star type of lifestyle of drinking, smoking, staying up late and eating fast food, I had to switch to a healthy lifestyle and literally had to relearn how to perform sober.
Another struggle was to find ppl that I trusted in the industry, so many ppl will just take advantage of your drive to succeed to just make a quick buck.
As a female I had to work extra hard to be taken seriously in a man dominant industry.
Being far away from home and my family was not easy either and made all the other struggles harder to bare.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I sing, rap and produce. I started working on Cubase in 2003, during that time it was very rare for a female to make beats. I seem to always be ahead of my time but my issue is that i don’t release my music quick enough and I don’t push hard enough because when you wait too long with releasing your music you lose your drive and belief in the work. also when you are ahead of your time, its hard for ppl to understand you. 12 years ago I didn’t pass the Israeli the voice because i was rapping and singing on the same song and they didn’t get it. last month i had a convo with one of the judges about how now the biggest acts in Israel are singing and rapping and how my audition today would have been more successful which was a closure for me. Even my old manager Hengee tells me every time he gets on a call with me how every time he listens to the radio these days he hears all these artists that sound like i used to years ago. So basically I’m very innovative. i don’t like to do whats already been done. now the question is whats next lol
Another thing that I haven’t touched on is that I invented a substitute for chocolate that was sold at Erewhon for 4 years until I left the country in 2020. The reason I crated it, is my extremely limited diet, I cant buy any dessert from a store, I had to make my own, tailored to what my body can handle. After years of researching health and nutrition, i developed this incredible dessert that almost anyone can have and it taste just like chocolate!
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Its really interesting cause when covid hit I was already used to being at home a lot because of my health limitations so I felt like the world was lining up with me But the lack of social interaction while moving back home stripped me of my musical drive. The fact that my dad past away during this time made it all even harder. I did like that the world became more zoom oriented which made it possible to connect internationally with ppl. I was spending a lot of time on the clubhouse app in music rooms where I had the platform to play my music, get cretic and network with like minded.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lihotmusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/lihotmusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lihotmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LihotMusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7aUWFlFk8wxKcAwszCgPiX?si=uQR2Ug5cT7aN9xgz93zoSQ
