Rather than just recycle old material while working on a follow-up, the companion piece both summarizes and extends the flavor of The Cactus. The Cactus Revisited, a remix record, overhauls (in one case updating) the sound and/or lyrics of six Cactus tracks (including all four of its singles) and a B-side. Settling the fronting question in the autobiographical “Product of the Environment,” the trio makes a hysterical issue of putdowns in “The Gas Face” and packs in two other great singles: the dramatic “Steppin’ to the A.M.” and “Brooklyn-Queens.” Rarely able to keep a stupid idea from getting play (like Serch’s goofy Satchmo imitation in “Flippin’ off the Wall Like Lucy Ball”), The Cactus is uneven but seriously enjoyable. Produced by Sam Sever, members of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad and Stetsasonic’s Prince Paul, The Cactus Al/bum (aka The Cactus Cee/D) established the band’s talent as well as its legitimacy. Overcome by the reality of shifting styles and the cliché of musical differences, the two rappers split up after two albums, leaving behind some great tracks that helped define the music’s turn-of-the-decade progress. The group got too silly for its own good and worked itself into a political corner by trying too hard to be down with almost everybody: in its righteous enthusiasm, Derelicts of Dialect‘s “No Master Plan No Master Race” moves from racial solidarity to unsupportable pretense. A straight-up and original hip-hop crew capable of delivering intelligent, serious raps but addicted to classic sitcom television, crazy found-sound samples and verbal slapstick, 3rd Bass concentrated on content more than presentation.
Between the Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill rock-rap and Vanilla Ice’s watered-down pop-hop, New York’s 3rd Bass - MC Serch (Michael Berrin), Prime Minister Pete Nice (Nash) and DJ Richie Rich (Lawson, not to be confused with an Oakland rapper using the same double-R handle) - turned up to disprove the whites-can’t-rap falsehood, a flipside to the blacks-can’t-rock prejudice faced by Living Colour and others.
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