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| DP Celebs / Interviews |
MC Serch
Rap Music Legend |
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As a teenager, I loved rap music. I couldn't get enough of it. Rap was a still a fresh, relativeally new musical genre free from the mysoginicstic and profanity laced lyrics found today. Instead, it seemed to be about fun and majority of the acts had a positive message in their songs. 'YO! MTV Raps', hosted by Ed Lover & Dr. Dre (not the Compton Dre) was on after school and the greatest rappers of all time could be seen including Eric B. & Rakim, Run DMC, LL Cool J & the Beastie Boys just to name a few. Imagine this, you could actually watch videos on MTV back then. Rap was agrueably at its creative peak and my personal favorite group was a white rap duo named 3rd Bass.
At the time 'The Cactus', their first album was released, I was a little league baseball super-star, hitting home runs harder than Rakim rocked the mic. Coincidentally, 3rd Bass used a lot of baseball samples and clever references in their songs, ("You played me like a foul ball , how you livin Hobbs..?") and I found out years later that Pete Nice was the baseball phanatic of the group. Two other albums were released including a The Cactus Remix and Derelicts of Dialect. The Remixed version of the Cactus actually contained some new versions of classic tracks that I liked better than the origials! The two emcees who made up this group, Pete Nice & MC Serch were my heroes. My best friend Kyle and I actually went and had custom baseball hats made with the number '3' prominently displayed on the front. Only we knew what that stood for and when people asked about them, we were proud to say, 'It's a rap group called 3rd Bass, check them out'...
So needless to say, this interview with Serch is one of my all time favorites :) |
| Dean: Who or what inspired you to become a rapper? |
| Serch: I have loved Hip Hop since I first heard it in 1980. When I got to Music and Art High School and saw Slick Rick and Dana Dane in the lunchroom doing their thing, I wanted to do it as well. That is when it all started for me. |
| Dean: Is there going to be another season of Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper show? |
| Serch: Not the White Rapper Show, but the new season is called "Ego Trips: Miss Rap Supreme". All flavors and all types of emcees, battling it out for the crown and 100,000 dollars. It debuts Monday night, April 7, at 10pm |
| Dean: Every once in a while I hear rumors of a 3rd Bass reunion. Do you think that will ever happen? |
| Serch: LOL, No it is not. Both Pete and I are in two different places in our lives and the need for Pete to do it is just not there. |
| Dean: When you were writing music with 3rd Bass and then in your solo career, which came first, the lyrics or the beats? |
| Serch: It depended. If there was a subject that came into my head I would write and then try to find a beat that matched it, sometimes it would be a beat and then I would hear the lyrics in my head that went with the beat. There are no absolutes in music. You do what you feel |
 Dean: Who came up with the concept for The Gas Face?
Serch: Originally it was a saying that my crew from Long Beach, The GYP Posse would say when girls would reject them in the mall. This crew consisted of Zev Love X, later to become MF Doom and his brother Sub Roc (G-d Bless the dead). Then Pete and I got together with Prince Paul and thought that would be a great concept for a record.
Dean: In 2007, would you still give 'Hammer' the Gas Face? Are there any artists out there right now that would get the Gas Face?
Serch: Hammer will always get the Gas Face LOL. Any artists that is making music for the sake of money and not the art get the Gas Face.
Dean: You are responsible for discovering Nas (Nasty Nas). Early on did you realize the impact he would have on the hip hop industry?
Serch: To set the record straight, I did not discover Nas. That was Large Professor. He was the first to put Nas on a song, "Live at the BBQ" on the classic Main Source album "Dropping Atoms". All I did was make sure Nas got the best deal he could get. As far as impact, There was no doubt what he was going to do, none in my mind whatsoever.
Dean: What is your opinion on the current state of hip-hop? |
| Serch: I think you mean Rap music. Hip Hop is the culture and Rap is the Music. Hip Hop is very much alive and doing its thing around the world. Rap is in a state of flux, but there are still some great artists out there making great music. |
| Dean: You were born and raised in Queens but I see that you now reside in Detroit. What took you there? |
| Serch: I took a radio job at WJLB here five years ago and never left. |
| Dean: What do you consider to be your biggest achievements in your personal life and in your musical career? |
| Serch: Being married as long as I have and my children are my biggest achievement. That my wife has dealt with me with all of my faults and still hangs in there is nothing short of a miracle. In my music career, I would say putting out The Cactus Album and being involved with Illmatic, by Nas |
| Dean: I thoroughly enjoy your MySpace blog. In one entry you name what you feel are the greatest rappers of all time which lists Rakim as number one (which I agree 100%). What is your response to those people who say you left out two big ones, Tupac and Biggie. |
| Serch: I think that they are several people who would put them in their top 5, but they are not in mine. I just don't think they have had the impact that a Nas, a Jay Z continues to have. I think the better argument is can you put Jay Z as the no. 1 MC of all time. Both 'Pac and Big are in my top ten, just not in my five, but like I said in my blog that is my personal opinion. |
| Dean: How in awe were you back in the day on 'Yo MTV Raps' as you listened to the legends Rakim & KRS-One freestyle? |
Serch from the beginning of the "Steppin' to the A.M." music video... |
| Serch: I was really just grinding at the bit to get on myself LOL. No, seriously I loved that cypher and to me it was the greatest cypher of all time. A great moment in Hip Hop history. |
| Dean: Is Eminem the greatest white rapper of all time? |
| Serch: I think that the argument can be made to that fact. |
| Dean: Last year you released a compilation of old tracks that never got to see the light of day. This is a 3rd Bass/Serch dream come true!! When were these tracks recorded? |
| Serch: The M.C. Serch tracks were recorded for my second solo album in 1994. I didn't even know I still owned those masters. The 3rd Bass music was recorded in 2000 when Pete and I tried to put out our third album. We were unable to finish |
| Dean: What are you most looking forward to in 2008? |
| Serch: I am interested in the response to the new show on VH1, and what ever is in store for me. I know that this year I will be more focused and streamlined then even in my life and that is exciting and scary at the same time. But something to look forward to nonetheless. |
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