3rd Bass
Encyclopedia
3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial
hip-hop groups.
(Michael Berrin), Prime Minister Pete Nice
(Peter J. Nash), and DJ Richie Rich
(Richard Lawson) were the three founding members of the group. Richie Rich was a local D.J., while Nice was an English major at Columbia University
and hosted a hip hop
show on Columbia's student radio station, WKCR-FM. Serch performed at clubs and block parties, and released a single called "Hey Boy" on independent label Idlers.
Record producer Sam Sever (real name Sam Citrin) convinced Nice and Serch to work together in 1987. Sever, Prince Paul, and The Bomb Squad
produced their 1989 debut, The Cactus Album, a critically acclaimed LP that went gold and contained a minor hit in "The Gas Face." The accompanying video, which featured a bevy of humorous cameo appearances that included Gilbert Gottfried
, Flavor Flav
, Salt-n-Pepa
, and EPMD
, garnered respectable MTV airplay and the single peaked at #5 on Billboard's Top Rap Singles
, though it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100
.
As reported in many interviews, Serch had tried (unsuccessfully) to join up with fellow New Yorkers the Beastie Boys
. Upon signing with Def Jam, 3rd Bass inherited their label's feud with the Beasties. The Cactus Album was released shortly after the Beastie Boys—riding high on the success of Licensed to Ill
—walked out of their contract with the label. In addition to containing multiple potshots directed at M.C. Hammer (referred to as "M.C. Household Tool" in the liner notes), Cactus also attacked the Beastie Boys and their defection to Capitol Records
.
3rd Bass's 1991 follow-up, Derelicts of Dialect
, had a new target in fellow white rapper Vanilla Ice
, who was the focal point of several tracks on the album, most notably "Pop Goes the Weasel
". The track depicted Ice as a culture thief who watered down the sound of rap in order to pander to a mainstream audience, while depicting 3rd Bass as more respectful of the genre's traditions. Ice was also criticized for his refusal to credit artists whose music he had sampled for his 1990 smash "Ice Ice Baby
." The video featured punk rock
icon Henry Rollins
dressed up as Ice, who received a "beatdown" by 3rd Bass at the end.
Fueled by the heavy backlash against Vanilla Ice at the time of its release, "Pop Goes the Weasel" reached #1 on Billboard's Top Rap Singles chart, gave the group their first and only Top 30 single (peaking at #29 on the Hot 100), and helped propel the album to gold
status. The track was described by Allmusic as "much-needed damage control in the hip-hop community," in part because it featured Caucasian rappers openly distancing themselves from one of their peers. Vanilla Ice answered back with 'The Wrath' and 'Hit 'em Hard' which he played at concerts in 1992, though the songs weren't officially released until 1994.
3rd Bass's final collaboration was the title track to the soundtrack of the 1992 film Gladiator
before the group called it quits. That same year—three years after The Cactus Album—the Beastie Boys retaliated against 3rd Bass on their new release Check Your Head
; the track "Professor Booty" contained the lyric "dancing around like you think you're Janet Jackson
," which was interpreted as a swipe at Serch's dancing in 3rd Bass's videos.
's only album, Born Gangstaz
. He released a solo record, Return of the Product
, in August of that year, which included the second major label recording of Nas (credited in the liner notes as "Nasty Nas") and featured the single "Here it Comes." Meanwhile, Nice and Rich teamed up as Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich, and released their only album, Dust to Dust in 1993. The leadoff single, "Rat Bastard," contained voice samples from The Silence of the Lambs and was rumored to reflect bad blood between the pair and Serch, though it was not confirmed. The follow-up was "Kick the Bobo," which received light airplay on MTV
and BET
but was unable to become a sizeable hit. Neither Nice nor Serch were able to achieve much popularity on their own after 3rd Bass disbanded.
Around the time of the split, Serch was involved with the production of the movie Zebrahead
. As recalled by actor Michael Rapaport
, Serch originally wanted to star in the film but was unable to secure the role, and ended up producing the film's soundtrack instead. After serving a stint at now-defunct Wild Pitch Records
, he founded Serchlite, a record label and publishing company responsible for signing another group of white New York hip-hop artists, Non Phixion
(who broke up in 2006).
3rd Bass reunited for a gig at the birthday party of Andy Hilfiger (brother of Tommy Hilfiger
) in 1998. They also performed at Woodstock 1999
, and released a non-charting single, "Hail to the Chief." There had also been talks of a new album entitled Ichabod’s Cranium, but any long-term reunion and album plans were ultimately scrapped.
Nice retired from the music business and opened a baseball memorabilia
store in Cooperstown
, New York
. He published a book, Baseball Legends of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, under his real name in 2003, in addition to attempting to secure property for an official gravesite of Negro League players. Serch hosted the VH1
reality TV series Ego Trip's The White Rapper Show. Nash also produced a documentary about the Rooters
, with interviews filmed in an old gas station in Cooperstown that he was turning into a museum of baseball fan history stocked with much of the memorabilia he was gathering. In 2007 Nice, along with Dropkick Murphys member Ken Casey, opened McGreevy's 3rd Base Saloon, a baseball history-themed sports bar, in Boston in April 2008. 2009 MC Serch was featured on rapper Kurious's album II and music video by Amalgam Digital
.
Interracial
Interracial is an adjective related to a supposed racial group. It can have different connotations in different contexts:* Interracial marriage is marriage between two people of different races....
hip-hop groups.
Career
MC SerchMC Serch
MC Serch is a Jewish-American hip hop MC and former member of 3rd Bass.-Biography:Serch grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, attending Far Rockaway High School, and graduated from Music & Art High School...
(Michael Berrin), Prime Minister Pete Nice
Pete Nice
Prime Minister Pete Nice is a former hip hop MC who was most noted as a member of the group 3rd Bass.-Career:...
(Peter J. Nash), and DJ Richie Rich
DJ Richie Rich
DJ Richie Rich , is a former record producer and turntablist who was best known as a member of the New York-based rap trio 3rd Bass. He was also known as Daddy Rich. He was part of The "Supermen" DJ crew which also included other top DJs such as Scratch, Clark Kent, Miz, Supreme, and Alladin...
(Richard Lawson) were the three founding members of the group. Richie Rich was a local D.J., while Nice was an English major at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and hosted a hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
show on Columbia's student radio station, WKCR-FM. Serch performed at clubs and block parties, and released a single called "Hey Boy" on independent label Idlers.
Record producer Sam Sever (real name Sam Citrin) convinced Nice and Serch to work together in 1987. Sever, Prince Paul, and The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
produced their 1989 debut, The Cactus Album, a critically acclaimed LP that went gold and contained a minor hit in "The Gas Face." The accompanying video, which featured a bevy of humorous cameo appearances that included Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin , and...
, Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
, Salt-n-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
, and EPMD
EPMD
EPMD is an American hip hop group from Brentwood, New York. The group's name is a concatenation of the members' name "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referencing its members, emcees Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith...
, garnered respectable MTV airplay and the single peaked at #5 on Billboard's Top Rap Singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
, though it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
As reported in many interviews, Serch had tried (unsuccessfully) to join up with fellow New Yorkers the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
. Upon signing with Def Jam, 3rd Bass inherited their label's feud with the Beasties. The Cactus Album was released shortly after the Beastie Boys—riding high on the success of Licensed to Ill
Licensed to Ill
In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums.It is still the only album by a white hip-hop act to receive the coveted 5 mics from The Source....
—walked out of their contract with the label. In addition to containing multiple potshots directed at M.C. Hammer (referred to as "M.C. Household Tool" in the liner notes), Cactus also attacked the Beastie Boys and their defection to Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
.
3rd Bass's 1991 follow-up, Derelicts of Dialect
Derelicts of Dialect
Derelicts of Dialect was Queens-based emcees 3rd Bass' second LP and final studio album, released on Def Jam Recordings...
, had a new target in fellow white rapper Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice
Robert Matthew Van Winkle , best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, extreme athlete and home improvement television personality...
, who was the focal point of several tracks on the album, most notably "Pop Goes the Weasel
Pop Goes the Weasel (3rd Bass song)
"Pop Goes the Weasel" is the best-selling single from hip hop trio 3rd Bass; it appears on their third album, Derelicts of Dialect .Released a year after the ill-fated Cactus Revisited E.P., "Pop Goes the Weasel" instantly became a hit and soon went gold. The song helped the album reach gold status...
". The track depicted Ice as a culture thief who watered down the sound of rap in order to pander to a mainstream audience, while depicting 3rd Bass as more respectful of the genre's traditions. Ice was also criticized for his refusal to credit artists whose music he had sampled for his 1990 smash "Ice Ice Baby
Ice Ice Baby
"Ice Ice Baby" is a hip hop song written by American rapper Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake. The song samples the bassline of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie, who did not initially receive songwriting credit or royalties until after it had become a hit...
." The video featured punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
icon Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
dressed up as Ice, who received a "beatdown" by 3rd Bass at the end.
Fueled by the heavy backlash against Vanilla Ice at the time of its release, "Pop Goes the Weasel" reached #1 on Billboard's Top Rap Singles chart, gave the group their first and only Top 30 single (peaking at #29 on the Hot 100), and helped propel the album to gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
status. The track was described by Allmusic as "much-needed damage control in the hip-hop community," in part because it featured Caucasian rappers openly distancing themselves from one of their peers. Vanilla Ice answered back with 'The Wrath' and 'Hit 'em Hard' which he played at concerts in 1992, though the songs weren't officially released until 1994.
3rd Bass's final collaboration was the title track to the soundtrack of the 1992 film Gladiator
Gladiator (1992 film)
Gladiator is a 1992 sport film, directed by Rowdy Herrington, and starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Marshall, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Loggia. The film tells the story of two teenagers trapped in the world of illegal underground boxing. One is fighting to pay off gambling debts accumulated by his...
before the group called it quits. That same year—three years after The Cactus Album—the Beastie Boys retaliated against 3rd Bass on their new release Check Your Head
Check Your Head
Check Your Head is the third studio album by the Beastie Boys, released on April 21, 1992.Three years elapsed between the release of Paul's Boutique and their recording of this album. Check Your Head was recorded at the G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, California in 1991...
; the track "Professor Booty" contained the lyric "dancing around like you think you're Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
," which was interpreted as a swipe at Serch's dancing in 3rd Bass's videos.
Breakup
In 1992, Serch co-wrote and produced several tracks for Detroit rapper BossBoss (rapper)
Boss is an American Midwest female gangsta rapper who enjoyed brief popularity in 1993 with her debut album Born Gangstaz. Her name is sometimes spelled Bo$$....
's only album, Born Gangstaz
Born Gangstaz
Born Gangstaz is debut album released by gangsta emcee Boss, rreleased on July 26, 1993, on Def Jam Recordings' West Coast-based sub-label DJ West and featured production from some of hip hop's top producers at the time, including Def Jef, Erick Sermon and Jam Master Jay. Born Gangstaz was a...
. He released a solo record, Return of the Product
Return of the Product
Return Of The Product is the solo debut album of American hip hop rapper MC Serch, released August 25, 1992 on Def Jam Recordings, after Serch had made two full-length albums with the group 3rd Bass. It was for the most part commercially ignored and only reached number 103 on the Billboard 200,...
, in August of that year, which included the second major label recording of Nas (credited in the liner notes as "Nasty Nas") and featured the single "Here it Comes." Meanwhile, Nice and Rich teamed up as Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich, and released their only album, Dust to Dust in 1993. The leadoff single, "Rat Bastard," contained voice samples from The Silence of the Lambs and was rumored to reflect bad blood between the pair and Serch, though it was not confirmed. The follow-up was "Kick the Bobo," which received light airplay on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and BET
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
but was unable to become a sizeable hit. Neither Nice nor Serch were able to achieve much popularity on their own after 3rd Bass disbanded.
Around the time of the split, Serch was involved with the production of the movie Zebrahead
Zebrahead (film)
Zebrahead is a 1992 drama film, directed by Anthony Drazan and starring Michael Rapaport and N'Bushe Wright. Set in Detroit, Michigan, the film is about an interracial romance between a white man and a black woman and the resulting tensions among the characters...
. As recalled by actor Michael Rapaport
Michael Rapaport
Michael David Rapaport is an American, actor, director and a comedian. He has acted in more than forty films since the early 1990s...
, Serch originally wanted to star in the film but was unable to secure the role, and ended up producing the film's soundtrack instead. After serving a stint at now-defunct Wild Pitch Records
Wild Pitch Records
Wild Pitch Records was a hip hop record label started in the mid 1980s by Stuart Fine and was eventually distributed by EMI and eventually acquired by Jay Faires, who tried to reactivate it as part of his short-lived JCOR Entertainment label...
, he founded Serchlite, a record label and publishing company responsible for signing another group of white New York hip-hop artists, Non Phixion
Non Phixion
Non Phixion was a New York-based hardcore hip-hop group.-History:In late 1994, MC Serch took his protege Sabac and teamed him up with DJ Eclipse and Ill Bill, thereby creating the group known as Non Phixion. Within six months Goretex, a childhood friend of Ill Bill, had joined the crew after...
(who broke up in 2006).
3rd Bass reunited for a gig at the birthday party of Andy Hilfiger (brother of Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob "Tommy" Hilfiger is an American fashion designer and founder of the premium lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger.-Early life:...
) in 1998. They also performed at Woodstock 1999
Woodstock 1999
Woodstock 1999, also called Woodstock 99, performed July 22–25, 1999, was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original Woodstock Festival of 1969. Like the previous Woodstock festivals it was performed in upstate New York, this time in Rome, New York, around 200...
, and released a non-charting single, "Hail to the Chief." There had also been talks of a new album entitled Ichabod’s Cranium, but any long-term reunion and album plans were ultimately scrapped.
Nice retired from the music business and opened a baseball memorabilia
Sports memorabilia
The term sports memorabilia usually refers to anything that can be directly connected to a sports event or personality. These items are generally gathered by the fans of the particular sport, athlete or team that the item signifies or by collectors who find value in the rarity time-value of these...
store in Cooperstown
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He published a book, Baseball Legends of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, under his real name in 2003, in addition to attempting to secure property for an official gravesite of Negro League players. Serch hosted the VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
reality TV series Ego Trip's The White Rapper Show. Nash also produced a documentary about the Rooters
Royal Rooters
The original Royal Rooters were a fan club for the Boston Red Sox in the early 20th century. They were led by Michael T. McGreevy, who owned a Boston saloon called "3rd Base". While M.T. "Nuf Ced" McGreevy was certainly the spiritual leader of the Royal Rooters, Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald,...
, with interviews filmed in an old gas station in Cooperstown that he was turning into a museum of baseball fan history stocked with much of the memorabilia he was gathering. In 2007 Nice, along with Dropkick Murphys member Ken Casey, opened McGreevy's 3rd Base Saloon, a baseball history-themed sports bar, in Boston in April 2008. 2009 MC Serch was featured on rapper Kurious's album II and music video by Amalgam Digital
Amalgam Digital
Amalgam Digital, Inc. is a new media outfit that was founded in 2006 as a privately owned company and launched AmalgamDigital.com in 2007. Amalgam is a digital media/technology platform that leverages the Internet to revolutionize the way artist & music are discovered, marketed and distributed...
.
Albums
All albums were released on Def Jam/Columbia.- The Cactus Album (1989, Gold)
- The Cactus Revisited (1990)
- Derelicts of DialectDerelicts of DialectDerelicts of Dialect was Queens-based emcees 3rd Bass' second LP and final studio album, released on Def Jam Recordings...
(1991, Gold)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rap Singles |
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles |
Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales |
Dance Music Club Play |
Hot 100 | ||
| 1989 1989 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989.-Events:*January 14 – Paul McCartney releases Снова в СССР exclusively in the USSR... |
"Steppin' to the A.M." | |
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| 1990 1990 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1990.-Events:*January 21 – MTV's Unplugged premieres on cable television with British band Squeeze... |
"The Gas Face" | |
|
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|
| 1990 | "Brooklyn-Queens" | |
|
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| 1990 | "Product of the Environment" | |
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| 1991 1991 in music See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year... |
"Pop Goes the Weasel Pop Goes the Weasel (3rd Bass song) "Pop Goes the Weasel" is the best-selling single from hip hop trio 3rd Bass; it appears on their third album, Derelicts of Dialect .Released a year after the ill-fated Cactus Revisited E.P., "Pop Goes the Weasel" instantly became a hit and soon went gold. The song helped the album reach gold status... " |
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| 1992 1992 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January–February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s.... |
"Portrait of the Artist as a Hood" | |
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| 1992 | "Gladiator" | |
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| 2000 | "Hail to the Chief" | |
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External links
- [ allmusic Artist] at allmusic
- 3rd Bass at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- thirdbass.net - Fansite devoted to the band and its members
- AmalgamDigital.com - Amalgam Digital