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. DJ Richie Rich, a disciple of DJ Clark Kent, didn’t become a member of the group until The Cactus Album was near completion.Įach emcee in 3rd Bass was stylistically unique. Both artists came to Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen separately looking for deals, and were put together by Rush Management. 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's just unfortunate that while 3rd Bass might have been one of the most underappreciated hip-hop acts around, this patchy remix collection too frequently gives their detractors more than enough ammo to fire back at them.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. In any case, for those desperately looking for anything new from a band cut too short in their career, Cactus Revisited might still placate such woes. Plus, to make matters worse, the previously unreleased "3 Strikes 5000" quickly loses its collector gem value since it later appeared on the band's superb Derelicts of Dialect full-length. "Wordz of Wisdom," for instance, is clearly the worst delinquent because despite an absolutely delightful use of Depeche Mode samples, it quickly staggers as it tries to stretch out into its eight-minute entirety. Some remixes such as the more danceable version of "The Cactus" or Prince Paul's terrifically energized take on "Gas Face" are mighty entertaining, but others seem to just sit on their thumbs and lengthen the original tracks. A bit of a between-album attempt to keep the band in people's sights, Cactus Revisited takes most of the biggest hits from 3rd Bass' debut and hands them over to such respected mixers as Marley Marl, Dave Darrell, and Prince Paul for them to play with.
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