Disc of the day
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
Features Disc of the day
3rd Bass
The Cactus Album
(Def Jam, 1989)
Can white men sing the raps? It would seem they can.
First-wave white rappers Michael "MC Serch" Berrin and Peter "Prime Minister Pete Nice" Nash had their work cut out establishing the credibility of ofay hip-hop. For one, whitey's exploitation of the nascent genre was already a significant beef, one the Brooklyn-Queens pair felt obliged to "step to" (alongside PW Botha and their own label exec Lyor Cohen) on their debut album's strident diss single The Gas Face. For two, 3rd Bass were on Def Jam, the home of the pre-eminent Public Enemy, and the prickly Serch was not one to gloss over the undercurrents of anti-semitism in PE's black power rhetoric (Serch's ruck with PE's Professor Griff would prompt the latter's suspension from the group). Third, this man lurked in the wings, primed to deep-six caucasian hip-hop for a generation, or at least until the advent of this man.
Twenty years on, the turf-warring is ancient history and what's left is an undervalued gem from one of hip-hop's greatest years. Serch and Nice were vigorous, inventive rhymers ("Black cat's bad luck / Bad guys wear black / Musta been a white guy who started all that") surfing up-tempo funk action, stupid-fresh cut-ups and a side of crackly vinyl fetishism courtesy DJ Richie Rich and producers Sam Sever, Prince Paul and The Bomb Squad, a veritable Brains Trust of golden-age "skillz". Their cultural breadth brought Doors samples (Peace Frog on the title track), allusions to Mr Magoo actor Jim Backus, and a diverting Tom Waits parody over that Way Down In The Hole (oh you, know, The Wire theme) brass vamp. But while there is even more to be said for genuinely comic rap in these days of 50 Cent and his po-faced ilk, it was not 3rd Bass's only gear, as Triple Stage Darkness's crepuscular lope through a benighted America underlines.
3rd Bass's follow-up - Derelicts Of Dialect - was easily as good, and spawned a shock Billboard Number 1 in Pop Goes The Weasel, but Serch's ability to ruffle feathers ensured outsider status and sped the trio's dissolution. He went on to a solo career and exec status at Wild Pitch records, but like a dog with a bone, recently reappeared as host on VH-1's bottomfeeding "talent"-trawl, The White Rapper Show. Nash has "moved on" more definitively, with a baseball memorabilia store in Cooperstown, New York and a scholarly work of "secret" history to his name, Baseball Legends Of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. When the book of rap's shouldabeens is written, his group will be first on the contents list.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 10/09/2009
Further Listening
3rd Bass – Derelicts Of Dialect (Def Jam, 1991
Jungle Brothers – Done By The Forces Of Nature (Warner Bros, 1989)
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (Capitol, 1989)
Previous Disc of the day
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Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
6:00 AM GMT 20/11/2009
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Isley Brothers - The Brothers: Isley
The Cincinnati siblings bed into their heavy period.
6:00 AM GMT 18/11/2009
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Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land
The trumpeter's most soulful excursion entrances MOJO messageboarder.
6:00 AM GMT 16/11/2009
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