It's 10 p.m. on Oct. 22 and the main ballroom of The Fillmore is packed with people from the front of the stage to the back entrance. Matisyahu runs up on stage as the band began to play the first chords of "Youth." The audience starts to cheer and clap as they raise the noise level to a seemingly all-time high -- the night finally began.

The Hasidic reggae and hip-hop artist wore a gray, fitted suit along with his trademark long beard and black yarmulke, a small circular hat commonly worn by observant Jewish men and sometimes women.

A standout performance throughout the set was "King Without a Crown," the song that catapulted him to fame. The sea of fans rose up and down, almost in complete unison, their voices echoing throughout the room while they sang along.

At one point during the night, Matisyahu began to beat-box for over five minutes non-stop. His body bounced as he created his own rhythms, persuading the band to join in, as they included bass and drum reverberations.

Born as Matthew Miller, Matisyahu kick-started his career with his first studio-recorded album "Shake Off the Dust... Arise" in 2004. It wasn't until 2005 that the 30-year-old rose to fame after the release of "Live at Stubbs," a live performance album recorded in Austin, Texas.

In 2006 he released his second studio album, "Youth," which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard charts. With hit song "King without a Crown," he became a well-known voice over the radio airwaves that mixed reggae, hip-hop, beat-boxing and rock with lyrics that tied back to his Orthodox Jewish faith.

On Aug. 25, Matisyahu debuted his third studio album, "Light," along with the launch of his nationwide tour. During his stop in San Francisco, the beat-boxing musician sat down with [X]press and discussed his inspirations for "Light" and living ordinary life as a father and husband from Brooklyn, New York.

[X]press: You've constantly been on the road since the beginning of the year, how has that experience been for you, with the debut of your new album?

Matisyahu: It's been really great. The music is really cool and really open. When you go onstage, you build on from the night before, so you go in without expectations. The main thing is to come into the show and be with the space for a minute and try to take it in.

[X]: Are there any ways that you like to unwind before a show when you have time?

M: Yeah, I just like to take long walks wherever I'm at or what city I'm in. I like to clear my head and relax. Walk in a direction, where I can breathe.

[X]: Just a chance to be alone and think, right?

M: Yeah. I like to be alone with no phone and just thinking and breathing. Letting everything go and just trying to be in the moment.

[X]: How has your life changed since the success of your previous albums, "Live at Stubbs," "Youth" and "Shake the Dust... Arise?"

M: Well, the main thing is having the opportunity to be able to make music, to be able to be on the road and to do shows and making money doing what I love. In terms of my lifestyle, nothing's changed that much. I don't have meetings with big famous people, and I don't hang out with celebrities. My lifestyle is still the same.

[X]: And by the same lifestyle, do you mean a normal life?

M. Exactly. I have two little boys and I'm married. When I'm not on the road I'm dropping my kids off at school, and going to the synagogue to pray and taking the subway to see my voice teacher. That's kind of my lifestyle. The sort of place that I live at, you don't have to drive, you're not isolated. It's not like living in LA or Malibu.

[X]: What was the process like for creating the album "Light?"

M: There was a rabbi in the community who would tell tales and stories and I kind of pulled from that for inspiration. It was sort of like taking the learning's from those stories and combining that with the music. The whole conceptual process took a few years. It all happened during tours, so I wasn't just sitting in a room all-day and writing. From the time that I actually started writing up till now, took about a year to finish.

[X]: A lot of your music has a message that incorporates your faith, like the song, "For You." What was the meaning behind it?

M: It's about how we're not always in the space to receive God or feel him even when he's there. We're kind of looking for God and searching for God even though we don't know where he is.

[X]: You've been creating music since you were 14. Is there any other type of career path that you would have taken, had you not pursued music?

M: Music was what I've always wanted to do; if I did anything else then I would probably be depressed. But I did a lot of other things when I was growing up. One of those things was working with kids who had a hard time fitting in. My parents are actually social workers, so yeah... I think I would have probably gone into social work.