This was an easy assumption to arrive at if one’s only concern was making money. And folks devoting time, energy and dollars to keeping up with deluxe reissues and box sets in multiple genres understand that extensive annotation of and commentary upon background specifics was/is an expected component in the retail price.Īs a relatively young art form, hip-hop has suffered from experiencing its burgeoning stylistic era(s) in a business setting that wrongly assumed buyers of contemporary music (as opposed to those dropping cash on older material) cared about little more than the sounds, the labels mostly throwing context and packaging to the wayside. 2 is freshly available from Wax Facts Press.Īnybody having spent hours inspecting the treasures in a jazz-centric record shop knows LPs in the multifaceted style regularly came adorned with notes (Hentoff! Williams! Jones!) on the back of the sleeve. Aptly subtitled “more liner notes for hip-hop junkies,” Check the Technique Vol. To get the complete scoop on this and assorted other hip-hop achievements one needs seek out the books of Brian Coleman.
Third bass cactus album full#
Due to this stature one might assume the full story behind its creation has long resided in the historical record, but that’s not the case. It may not have completely integrated rap, but it was a precursor to a culture that became more inclusive and widespread after its arrival.Released a quarter century ago by the Def Jam label, Brooklyn trio 3rd Bass’ The Cactus Album stands as a hip-hop classic. 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. Recorded at Chung King, Green Street Studios, New York, New York Island Media, West Babylon, New York.īesides 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. Serch, Sam Sever, Prince Paul.Įngineers include: Greg Gordon, Curt Fresca, Kevin Reynolds. Producers include: Keith Shocklee, Hank Shocklee, M.C. 3rd Bass includes: MC Search (Michael Berrin) Prime Minister Pete Nice (Peter Nash).
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