Name	3rd Bass
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Queens, New York CityNew York,
Genre	Hip-Hop
Years active	1987 – 1992
Label	Def Jam/Columbia/SME Records
Associated acts	Prince PaulThe Bomb SquadKMDDowntown ScienceKuriousNas
Past members	MC SerchPete NiceDJ Richie Rich

3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial hip-hop groups.

Career

MC Serch (Michael Berrin), Prime Minister Pete Nice (Peter J. Nash), and DJ Richie Rich (Richard Lawson) were the three founding members of the group. Richie Rich was a local D.J., while Nice was an English major at Columbia University and hosted a hip hop show on Columbia's student radio station, WKCR-FM. Serch performed at clubs and block parties, and released a single called "Hey Boy" on independent label Idlers.

Record producer Sam Sever (real name Sam Citrin) convinced Nice and Serch to work together in 1987. Sever, Prince Paul, and The Bomb Squad produced their 1989 debut, The Cactus Album, a critically acclaimed LP that went gold and contained a minor hit in "The Gas Face." The accompanying video, which featured a bevy of humorous cameo appearances that included Gilbert Gottfried, Flavor Flav, Salt-n-Pepa, and EPMD, garnered respectable MTV airplay and the single peaked at #5 on Billboard's Top Rap Singles, though it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

As reported in many interviews, Serch had tried (unsuccessfully) to join up with fellow New Yorkers the Beastie Boys. Upon signing with Def Jam, 3rd Bass inherited their label's feud with the Beasties. The Cactus Album was released shortly after the Beastie Boys—riding high on the success of Licensed to Ill—walked out of their contract with the label. In addition to containing multiple potshots directed at M.C. Hammer (referred to as "M.C. Household Tool" in the liner notes), Cactus also attacked the Beastie Boys and their defection to Capitol Records.

3rd Bass's 1991 follow-up, Derelicts of Dialect, had a new target in fellow white rapper Vanilla Ice, who was the focal point of several tracks on the album, most notably "Pop Goes the Weasel". The track depicted Ice as a culture thief who watered down the sound of rap in order to pander to a mainstream audience, while depicting 3rd Bass as more respectful of the genre's traditions. Ice was also criticized for his refusal to credit artists whose music he had sampled for his 1990 smash "Ice Ice Baby." The video featured punk rock icon Henry Rollins dressed up as Ice, who received a "beatdown" by 3rd Bass at the end.

Fueled by the heavy backlash against Vanilla Ice at the time of its release, "Pop Goes the Weasel" reached #1 on Billboard's Top Rap Singles chart, gave the group their first and only Top 30 single (peaking at #29 on the Hot 100), and helped propel the album to gold status. The track was described by Allmusic as "much-needed damage control in the hip-hop community," in part because it featured Caucasian rappers openly distancing themselves from one of their peers. Vanilla Ice answered back with 'The Wrath' and 'Hit 'em Hard' which he played at concerts in 1992, though the songs weren't officially released until 1994.

3rd Bass's final collaboration was the title track to the soundtrack of the 1992 film Gladiator before the group called it quits. That same year—three years after The Cactus Album—the Beastie Boys retaliated against 3rd Bass on their new release Check Your Head; the track "Professor Booty" contained the lyric "dancing around like you think you're Janet Jackson," which was interpreted as a swipe at Serch's dancing in 3rd Bass's videos.

Breakup

In 1992, Serch co-wrote and produced several tracks for Detroit rapper Boss's only album, Born Gangstaz. He released a solo record, Return of the Product, in August of that year, which included the second major label recording of Nas (credited in the liner notes as "Nasty Nas") and featured the single "Here it Comes." Meanwhile, Nice and Rich teamed up as Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich, and released their only album, Dust to Dust in 1993. The leadoff single, "Rat Bastard," contained voice samples from The Silence of the Lambs and was rumored to reflect bad blood between the pair and Serch, though it was not confirmed. The follow-up was "Kick the Bobo," which received light airplay on MTV and BET but was unable to become a sizeable hit. Neither Nice nor Serch were able to achieve much popularity on their own after 3rd Bass disbanded.

Around the time of the split, Serch was involved with the production of the movie Zebrahead. As recalled by actor Michael Rapaport, Serch originally wanted to star in the film but was unable to secure the role, and ended up producing the film's soundtrack instead. After serving a stint at now-defunct Wild Pitch Records, he founded Serchlite, a record label and publishing company responsible for signing another group of white New York hip-hop artists, Non Phixion (who broke up in 2006).

3rd Bass reunited for a gig at the birthday party of Andy Hilfiger (brother of Tommy Hilfiger) in 1998. They also performed at Woodstock 1999, and released a non-charting single, "Hail to the Chief." There had also been talks of a new album entitled Ichabod’s Cranium, but any long-term reunion and album plans were ultimately scrapped.

Nice retired from the music business and opened a baseball memorabilia store in Cooperstown, New York. He published a book, Baseball Legends of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, under his real name in 2003, in addition to attempting to secure property for an official gravesite of Negro League players. Serch hosted the VH1 reality TV series Ego Trip's The White Rapper Show. Nash also produced a documentary about the Rooters, with interviews filmed in an old gas station in Cooperstown that he was turning into a museum of baseball fan history stocked with much of the memorabilia he was gathering. In 2007 Nice, along with Dropkick Murphys member Ken Casey, opened McGreevy's 3rd Base Saloon, a baseball history-themed sports bar, in Boston in April 2008. 2009 MC Serch was featured on rapper Kurious's album II and music video by Amalgam Digital.

Discography

Albums

All albums were released on Def Jam/Columbia.

The Cactus Album (1989, Gold)

The Cactus Revisited (1990)

Derelicts of Dialect (1991, Gold)

Singles

References

External links

[ allmusic Artist] at allmusic

3rd Bass at Discogs

thirdbass.net - Fansite devoted to the band and its members

AmalgamDigital.com - Amalgam Digital

Category:1980s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:East Coast hip hop groups Category:Musical groups established in 1987 Category:Musical groups from New York Category:Jewish hip hop groups Category:Def Jam Recordings artists

Name	Arsenio Hall
Caption	Hall at the 1989 Emmy Awards
Birth date	February 12, 1955
Birth place	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, television host
Years active	1982–present
Website	http://www.arseniohall.com/

Arsenio Hall (born February 12, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, and former talk show host. He is best known for his talk show The Arsenio Hall Show, which ran between 1989 and 1994, and his roles in the films Coming to America and Harlem Nights.

Hall is also known for his appearance as Alan Thicke's sidekick on the talk show Thicke of the Night.

Early years

Hall was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Anne and Fred Hall, a Baptist minister. Hall performed as a magician when he was a child. He attended Warrensville Heights High School in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. After he graduated, he attended Ohio University, where he was on the speech team with Nancy Cartwright and Leon Harris. He then transferred to Kent State University.

Career

He later moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in stand-up comedy, making a couple of appearances on Soul Train. Hall was the original voice of Winston Zeddemore in the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters from 1986–1987. In 1988, he co-starred in the comedy film Coming to America with Eddie Murphy. In 1984, he was also the announcer/sidekick for Alan Thicke during the ill-fated talk show Thicke of the Night (a role which he has on occasion he has thus noted his resulting confusion with Monty Hall).

Talk shows

In 1986, the Fox network introduced The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, created to directly challenge The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After a moderate start, ratings for the show sagged. Behind-the-scenes relations between Rivers and network executives at Fox quickly eroded, and Rivers left in 1987. Renamed The Late Show, it featured several hosts including Ross Shafer, Suzanne Somers, Richard Belzer, and Robert Townsend before it was cancelled in 1988. Hall was chosen to host the show in the fall of 1987, and proved to be immensely popular.

From January 2, 1989, until May 27, 1994, he hosted a syndicated late-night talk show, The Arsenio Hall Show. The show became known for its audience's (The "Dog Pound") distinctive alternative to applause: chanting "Roo, Roo, Roo!" while pumping/cranking their fists. The practice soon became such a ritual that by 1991 had become a "pop-culture stamp of approval"—one that Hall said had become "so popular it's getting on people's nerves." The gesture made it into films of the time: the title character played by Julia Roberts did it in a polo scene in Pretty Woman (1990), and characters played by Penny Marshall and Michael J. Fox did it in The Hard Way.

Perhaps one of the show's most noted guest stars was then-Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Bill Clinton, who performed a rendition of Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel on the saxophone during his appearance in June 1992. However, the ratings for Hall's program began to struggle and he also butted heads with Paramount, his distributor. The tension arose from Hall's invitation to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in February 1994. Hall gave the entire hour to Farrakhan and did not do anything else besides conduct an interview. Due in part to that and to rapidly eroding ratings before that, Hall's program was canceled in May 1994.

Hall used his fame during this period to help fight worldwide prejudice against HIV and AIDS, after Magic Johnson contracted the disease; Hall and Johnson filmed a PSA about the disease that aired in the early 1990s.

Hall had previously appeared as Alan Thicke's sidekick on the talk show Thicke of the Night.

Current work

Since The Arsenio Hall Show ended, Hall has made many appearances on television (including a short-lived 1997 sitcom called Arsenio) starring in Martial Law with Sammo Hung from 1999–2000 and hosting the revival of Star Search in 2003. On the latter program, he tried to popularize the catch phrase "Hit me with the digits!"

Hall appeared as himself in Chappelle's Show in March 2004, when Dave was imagining "what Arsenio is doing right now" in a dinner scene.

As of 2008, Hall is a guest co-host on Wednesday evenings on The Tim Conway Jr. Show on KLSX 97.1 FM radio. Hall also hosted MyNetworkTV's comedic clip show The World's Funniest Moments and TV One's 100 Greatest Black Power Moves.

Hall was considered to be the host of the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal and filmed a pilot (there were six taped). However, by the time the syndicated series began on September 8, 2008, Howie Mandel was the host.

Hall continued to host the myNetworkTV show The World's Funniest Moments (premiered July 15, 2009), an America's Funniest Home Videos style show reviewing funny clips from the internet and viewers. He appeared regularly on The Jay Leno Show and was a guest on Lopez Tonight (November 25, 2009). George Lopez credits Arsenio for being the reason he has a late night show; he appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show more times than any other comedian. Lopez requested Hall be a co-host on Lopez Tonight (November 25, 2009) since he was his inspiration and the first "late night party show host". Aside from discussing the 16 appearances by Lopez on Hall's talk show, he also discussed his relationship with Paula Abdul.

Filmography

The 1/2 Hour Comedy Hour (1983) – Host

Thicke of the Night (1983) – Himself (1984)

New Love, American Style (1985)

The Motown Revue Starring Smokey Robinson (1985)

Solid Gold (1980) – Himself (1986–1987)

The Real Ghostbusters (1986) – Winston Zeddemore (voice) (1986–1987)

The Late Show (1986) TV Series – Himself/Host (1987)

Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) – Apartment Victim

Uptown Comedy Express (1987) – Himself

Coming to America (1988) – Semmi/Extremely Ugly Girl/Morris/Reverend Brown

Harlem Nights (1989) – Crying Man

Comic Relief III (1989) (TV) – Himself

Paula Abdul: Straight Up (1989) – Himself

The Arsenio Hall Show (1989–1994) – Host

(1992) – Host

Blankman (1994) – Himself

Arsenio (1997) – Michael Atwood

Martial Law (1998) – Terrell Parker

Star Search (2003–2005) – Host

Chappelle Show (2003) – Himself

(2005) – Himself

Scooby Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006) – Captain Crothers (voice)

The Proud Family Movie (2005) – Dr. Carver/Bobby Proud (voice; taking over for Cedric the Entertainer)

Flavor of Love 3 (2008) – Himself

Igor (2008) – Carl Cristall (voice)

Brothers (2009) (TV) – Himself

Black Dynamite (2009) – Tasty Freeze

Meet Dave (2009)

Tosh.0 (2010) – Himself

Discography

In 1989, Hall released an album on MCA Records, Large & In Charge (ASIN B000008EAV), under the moniker "Chunky A". Chunky A was supposed to be Hall's overweight "little brother". The album had one minor hit "Owww!" and featured guest rappers Ice-T and KRS-One and guest musicians Cameo.

References

Further reading

Arsenio Hall by Norman King. William Morrow & Co., 1993. ISBN 0517145987

External links

Category:African American comedians Category:African American film actors Category:African American television actors Category:African American television personalities Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American television personalities Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American voice actors Category:Kent State University alumni Category:Ohio University alumni Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:People of the African Methodist Episcopal church Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Methodists