3rd Bass
The Cactus Album (Def Jam 45415)

Yet another album that I mercilessly abused during my early 90s hip-hop phase, The Cactus Album may be the most unique of them all, since this was at a time when white guys in hip-hop were viewed as either novelties (Beastie Boys) or outright posers (Vanilla Ice), and 3rd Bass were actually given props.

Their mission was to show the world that Whites could pull off hip-hop, and maintain street cred … and they made a strong case with this record. strong case.

3rd Bass consisted of MC Serch and Pete Nice, two white kids who grew up on the predominantly black streets of Brooklyn. One supposes this would explain how they came to know and love hip-hop, and how they decided to make some themselves. I can't imagine they were helped by Serch's appearance, which is kind of like a cross between Elvis Costello and John Flansburgh, but it did add to their charm. Pete Nice looks like a poor man's Sean Penn, and his trademarks were a cigar and a cane, both of which he seemed to always have on him.

Most of the notoriety this album gained was courtesy of "Yo! MTV Raps" back when that show was the bomb, and when saying something was "the bomb" wasn't a pitiful attempt at sounding "hip."

The video that garnered the most airplay was "The Gas Face," a song fueled by the piano riff of Aretha's "Think." It was a spirited dis directed at the hip-hop "sellouts" of the time, such as MC Hammer, Tone Loc, and Vanilla Ice, as well as fellow whiteys, the Beastie Boys.

Lots of great tracks on here still shine through: "Wordz Of Wizdom," "Steppin' To The A.M.," "Sons Of 3rd Bass," "Product Of the Enviroment." The remix of "Wordz Of Wizdom" (which I believe only appears on the CD) is also great, savvily< sampling the opening bars of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again."

Alas, a good portion of this record is pure filler, and some of it is intolerable. "Flippin' Off The Wall Like Lucy Ball" is particularly ingratiating, with someone (Serch?) doing a third-rate Louis Armstrong impression. Another interesting bit of irony: despite the vicious Beastie Boy bashing that occurs during "The Gas Face," they go ahead and sample them on "Steppin' To The A.M." Now who gets the gas face?

It's a wildly inconsistent album. At times, it's damn great hip-hop, and brings back good memories, but at others, it hasn't dated well at all. The bashing of the Beasties, for example, is especially anachronistic given that those guys have gone on to do some pretty great shit. 3rd Bass may have had the bigger market share at the time, but the vision of Paul's Boutique (while it left many befuddled initially), gave the B-Boys the last laugh.

Despite much must-skip filler, The Cactus Album still has enough high spots on it to warrant at least an occasional trip out of the rack and into rotation on the ol' hi-fi. But it sure sounded a lot better in 1990.

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Review by Mario Speedwagon