Back in the mid eighties, a white Jewish kid stormed New Yorks streets, clubs and freestyle stages with both spectacular and hilarious rhymes, leaving a powerful impression on the crowd. Perhaps he drew his confidence as a white rapper in a black environment from the single source that he could absolutely rely on, the one thing which made him the most respected white artist in a scene of black protagonists: his fucking talent. This is his story.
Maybe the story of MC Serch begins with his hair. A Jewish kid from Queens that could grow an ambos-like block of hair, a tamed afro that provided enough space to shave in messages to the people sitting, walking or dancing behind him, especially the most important message of that time, the name of his crew: 3rd Bass.
The time being the late eighties and the beginning of the nineties – the golden age of Hip Hop. The Native Tongues spoke out load, Eric B and Rakim galored, EPMD meant Business, Big Daddy Kane and LL Cool J hustled their way around, Boogie Down Production were still alive and Chuck D rose the oppressed afro-American voice to both a political and funk-filled consciousness. The relatively new genre left the dark ghetto alleys to swap into colleges, radio stations and non-black neighborhoods. Serch, being himself a huge part of that era, recalls that time simply as „a movement of positivity“.
First outcome: Melissa, from 1886
Michael Berrin aka Mc Serch sculptured his artistic skills at the High school of Music and Arts before touring the stages of the local nightclubs as a white MC in a black environment. You don’t need to be very familiar with the scene that days in order to acknowledge that only an outstanding persona would manage himself in what you could consider an alien island. Serch did. Given his positive and calm nature, his shining self-esteem and ruthless talent on the Mic, he became the first white MC completely recognized by the larger Hip Hop community (and yeah, the Beastie Boys got their share all well).
After he produced the songs Melissa and Hey Boy in 1986, he was introduced to another white MC, Pete Nash aka Prime Minister Pete Nice, a very interesting character to say the least. Pete went to Columbia University with a basketball scholarship, studying English because „English helps with lyrics“ and hosting a Hip Hop show at the campus´s radio station for about 3 years. Pete didn’t wear hooders, baseball caps and baggie pants, he preferred a classic coat or suit, smoking a Havana and always carrying his magnificent walking stick. Familiar with Kubrick´s Dr. Strangelove? Judging from the outside, he would much better fit in that very movie – being the evil and we-dont-know-what-this-guy-is-capable-of looking assistant of the Russian prime minister – than into one of the best Hip Hop Combos that ever walked the planet. If he finds one nearby, he always prefers to sit on a chair. Right there, comfortably, cozy and never-smiling in his most adored piece of furniture, his looks tells you that he is coming after you. Whether a preacher, sophisticated Englishman, a torn poet or serial killer, his job is to deliver a message.
His partner in crime during College became his buddy Richard Lawson aka DJ Richie Rich. Soon, after MC Serch joined them, 2 white MC´s and a black DJ hit the rap world with all their might and skill. First named themselves Three the hard way, they changed their name after being signed with the number one Rap Label Def Jam in 1889.
3rd Bass finally was born.
3rd Bass – The Cactus Album
3rd Bass performing “Gas Face”
Their first album, The Cactus Album, hit with considerable success and excellent reviews. From here on, everyone was familiar with the term “Gas Face“. One year later, in 1990, a remix album followed. In 1991, the second full length album Derelicts of Dialect was released, and especially Pete Nice and MC Serch gained a lot of credit for their way of delivering lines: Being intelligent without being arrogant, humorous but not clownish, they „back up the big talk with no-nonsense funk“ (The musician, 9/91). Derelicts of Dialects also included the hit single Pop goes the Wheasel, a very well done „homage“ to Vanilla Ice and „phony entertainers“, carrying a beautiful sample of Peter Gabriel´s Sledgehammer. The song became a billboard hit, but the fans did not neglect the other brilliant songs on that album such as Ace in the hole or Come in.
Apart from being a natural man behind the Mic and mastermind of a hundred well-crafted verses, MC Serch is also a family man, and his wife soon became pregnant with their first child.
It was due to family reasons and a couple of other projects that he decided to leave 3rd Bass in order to pursue his own path which would leave some more time for the family life. It wasn’t about to get quiet though. Serch went to the studio and produced his first and only real solo album in 1992, much to the joy of the 3rd Bass followers. The albums title says it all: Return of the Product.
The album starts with the powerful and pace-setting Here it comes, and Serch sets the tone right at the first verses. “Because you fill to the wasteline when you waste rhymes/Serch got it flowin when it comes to fat beats and baselines.”
Back to the Grill was the most successful single of the album and is the most likable track on the album. It features Chubb Rock, Red Hot Lover Tone and the young Nasty Nas, all in their best spirits (RHLT: “I am a slay slay lay/ pull a ho around my way and make hooker souffle”).
Songs like Hard but true or Return to the product would probably scare todays kids who are used to mere fat baselines and MC´s who hardly can pull their teeth apart and flow at the speed of a retired R&B Singer. Well, the nineties meant speed and a new complexity of rhythms, so you better get used to it and ease into the unique sense of the energy. The track Here it comes again would be the one to conquer though…
You probably like the great song Daze in a week if you also like Gang Starr´s Mass Appeal. Furthermore, the funky Social narcotics carries an unfunky topic of racism and education (“You never told me true history/we killed the indians and showed it as a victory/original man, pilgrims saw him as a caveman/convert to be a christian or become a slaveman”) and Scenes from the mind is Serch´s fine recollection of Rap memories.
Daze in a week
Social narcotics
Hits the head
Here it comes
The Return of the Product managed well on the market but couldn’t provide the same sells as the 3rd Bass albums. When Serch recorded some new tracks and send them to Russel Simmons for approval, he was faced with a shocking answer. Russel was quoted having said unless Serch reunites with Pete Nice and Richie Rich, there would not be another solo album of his. What happened then is described by Serch himself: „I called him on it and he told me he needed to speak to me. I went to his apartment and he told me unless i deliver a 3rd Bass Album that i was no longer an artist on Def Jam. I told him to Fuck himself and walked out.“
Well done. But his courage didn’t only end the relationship between him and Def Jam, but also the work between him and his new album. Because of other work the songs remained, for the time being, unreleased. Serch´s boat shipped to new waters, he promoted and produced the debut album of a young flourishing rapper named Nas, who had already performed in Back to the grill, and another yet unknown rapper named O.C. His instinct for talent was amazing; he established his own label, Serchlite, worked as a radio host and with many acclaimed artist of his time, producing a soundtrack for Oliver Stone and performing the Rapper „1/16 black“ in Spike Lee´s „Bamboozled“. This act basically says it all. The movie entirely deals with black topics and features an underground black-activist group called Mau Mau, played by other real life rappers such as Mos Def, Cannibus or Charlie Baltimore. On their black-soul Manifesto blak iz blak, Serch, the only white rapper, delivers the most vivid lines among all his fellow MC´s.
The years went by and Serch was busy with the amount of new work that his shift in life brought in. However, there was another album to follow. In 2002, flipping through some old boxes in his new home Detroit, he stumbled across the unreleased songs that he had done in 1994 and which proved not good enough for Simmons because they lacked the potential to become a big hit and a source of money. Serch worked on the songs for half a year and finally released them under the title (M)any (Y)oung (L)ives (A)go – The 1994 sessions It must have been quite emotional to go through this songs and release them so many years later as a document of a lost time. But in his own words:
„I hope it takes you back to 1994. A time when Jazz was still an important part of Hip Hop. When sampling was still an integral part of the soundscape of the culture. When lyrics were about being locked down and a MC could breathe free. When scratching was pleasurable to hear on a track. When the MC was moving you with not just energy but with a message.“
Later, he hosted the reality show Ego Trips, the White Rappers show. But before you download the episodes or watch them on YouTube, you better return to the real product.
3rd Bass – Derelicts of Dialect
PS: Check out the Fanpage thirdbass.net for pictures, downloads and lyrics of a 3rd bass history. Peace.
