The tracks on the album are distinguished by a sample heavy approach to production that draws from eclectic sample sources. Musically, their sound fell somewhere between Public Enemy and early De La Soul/ Jungle Brothers. However, their different approaches gelled well on record. Serch was a boisterous party rocking emcee in the mold of T La Rock, while Pete Nice was an often abstract Rakim-type. Richie Rich, a disciple of DJ Clark Kent, didn’t enter the picture until The Cactus Album was near completion.Įach emcee in 3rd Bass was stylistically unique. ![]() They came together as a group before they were eventually signed to Def Jam. Both artists had come to Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen separately looking for deals. However, just as the Generals were looking to put out some material, the group disbanded unexpectedly and unceremoniously. Lord Scotch, credited as the first white rapper and the younger brother of novelist Jonathan Lethem. Meanwhile, Pete had been a member of a three-man crew called the Servin Generals, whose ranks included Blake Lethem a.k.a. Serch had dropped a pair of independent singles and was receiving some buzz for his efforts. The group very much sounded like the products of their environment (pun intended) when they released their debut LP The Cactus Album 30 years ago.ģrd Bass was neither Serch nor Pete’s introduction to releasing hip-hop music. In an era when being an outsider meant at best you’d get your chain snatched and at worst catch a serious beatdown, the members of 3rd Bass commanded respect. While the Beastie Boys were a product of Manhattan’s punk club scene, Serch and Pete Nice were battle tested in legendary clubs like the Latin Quarter, the Palladium, and Union Square. Meanwhile, both members of 3rd Bass came from a background where you respected the architects of hip-hop culture or that meant your ass. While I greatly enjoyed Licensed To Ill (1986), it’s not like I identified with the drunken frat boy image that the trio adopted at the behest of Rick Rubin and had channeled through songs like “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!).” The Beastie Boys took hip-hop seriously, but at the time I didn’t believe that they made serious hip-hop music. Liking the Beastie Boys became somewhat problematic during the late ’80s for these “true” hip-hop heads. That struck a personal chord, knowing that I was someone who didn’t view hip-hop music as a passing trend. ![]() The group’s emcees, who were, of course, white, were able to express themselves without coming across as exaggerated caricatures. The group was made up of Peter “Pete Nice” Nash, Michael “MC Serch” Berrin, and Richard “DJ Richie Rich” Lawson. Up until that point, “white rapper” essentially meant the Beastie Boys, unless you were a big fan of The White Boys. It may not have completely integrated rap, but it was a precursor to a culture that became more inclusive and widespread after its arrival.Happy 30th Anniversary to 3rd Bass’ debut album The Cactus Album, originally released November 14, 1989.Īs a white teenager obsessed with hip-hop in the late ’80s, 3rd Bass really meant something to me. The Cactus Album was also important because it proved to the hip-hop heads that white kids could play along without appropriating or bastardizing the culture. Not every single idea plays out successfully - Serch's Tom Waits impression on "Flippin' Off the Wall." is on the wrong side of the taste line, and "Desert Boots" is a puzzling Western-themed insertion - but they are at least interesting stretches that add to the dense, layered texture of the album. The duo may not have come from the streets, but their hearts were there, and it shows. ![]() For one, it is full of great songs, alternately upbeat rollers ("Sons of 3rd Bass"), casual-but-sincere disses ("The Gas Face"), razor-sharp street didacticism ("Triple Stage Darkness," "Wordz of Wizdom"), and sweaty city anthems ("Brooklyn Queens," "Steppin' to the A.M.," odes to day and night, respectively), with A-plus production by heavyweights Prince Paul and Bomb Squad, as well as the surprising, overshadowing work of Sam Sever. Matching MC Serch's bombastic, goofy good nature and Prime Minister Pete Nice's gritty, English-trained wordsmithery (sounding like a young Don in training), 3rd Bass' debut album is revelatory in its way. Besides the upper-middle-class frat-punks-in-rap-clothing shtick of the Beastie Boys and emissary/producer Rick Rubin, who both gained a legitimate, earned respect in the rap community, there were very few white kids in rap's first decade who spoke the poetry of the street with compassion and veneration for the form.
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