Rahul Sharma (Editor)

The Cactus Album

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Released
  
November 14, 1989

Artist
  
3rd Bass

Label
  
Def Jam Recordings

Length
  
65:46

Release date
  
14 November 1989

The Cactus Album httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen6633rd

Recorded
  
1988-1989 at New York, New York Chung King Studios, Green Street Studios, Island Media Studios

The Cactus Album (The Cee/Dee) (1989)
  
The Cactus Revisited (1990)

Genres
  
Hip hop music, East Coast hip hop

Producers
  
Pete Nice, MC Serch, Prince Paul

Hip hop music albums
  
Dust to Dust, Return of the Product, It's a Big Daddy Thing, Mr Hood, By All Means Necessary

3rd bass the cactus album full album


The Cactus Al/Bum (also known as The Cactus Cee/D and The Cactus Cas/Ette depending on release format) is the debut album by hip-hop trio 3rd Bass, released on Def Jam Recordings on November 14, 1989. The album received positive reviews from the hip hop press, and the group gained some publicity by being arguably the second white group to achieve hip hop credibility, after the Beastie Boys. It was certified gold by the RIAA on April 24, 1990, the same day as Biz Markie's The Biz Never Sleeps, which was released two weeks prior to The Cactus Album.

Contents

The Cactus Album peaked at #5 on Billboard's Top Hip Hop/R&B Albums chart and at #55 on the Billboard 200 chart. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums. A decade later, Rhapsody included The Cactus Album in its list of "The 10 Best Albums By White Rappers".

Background

Most of the music was produced by Sam Sever alongside members MC Serch and Pete Nice, except for the Prince Paul-produced tracks "The Gas Face" and "Brooklyn-Queens," and "Steppin' to the A.M." and "Oval Office" by The Bomb Squad. The album generally features songs that are lyrical showcases or are about women (such as the hidden sexual meaning of "Oval Office"). The song "Sons of 3rd Bass" can be viewed as a diss to the Beastie Boys (who had recently severed ties with 3rd Bass' record label, Def Jam) in that it references them in many lines such as this one uttered by MC Serch in the first verse.

Swarm to the lyrics cause Serch is your father Screaming "Hey Ladies", why bother?

The song "Wordz of Wisdom" was recorded while the group performed under the name "Three the Hard Way." Their name was changed after they signed to Def Jam, however, the recording made its way onto the album.

The group had a minor hit with the single "The Gas Face". The accompanying video, which featured a bevy of humorous cameo appearances that included Gilbert Gottfried, Flavor Flav, Salt-n-Pepa, and Erick Sermon, garnered respectable MTV airplay. The song also features Daniel Dumile in his recording debut. At the time, he was recording under the alias Zev Love X, a member of the rap duo KMD, but would later come to be known as MF DOOM. KMD were mentioned several times on the album, and they appeared in the music videos for "The Gas Face" and Steppin' to the A.M."

Track listing

All tracks written by Pete Nice (Nash), MC Serch (Berrin), and Sam Sever (Citrin).

2000 CD Release Bonus Track

Singles

Steppin' To the A.M.

  1. Steppin' To the A.M.
  2. Steppin' To the P.M. (Instrumental)

The Gas Face

  1. The Gas Face (Radio Mix)
  2. The Gas Face (Instrumental)
  3. Wordz Of Wizdom (Death In the Afternoon)
  4. Wordz Of Wizdom (Club Mix)
  5. Wordz Of Wizdom (Radio Mix)

Brooklyn-Queens

  1. Brooklyn-Queens (The U.K. Power Mix)
  2. Brooklyn-Queens (Power Radio Edit)
  3. Brooklyn-Queens (LP Version)
  4. Triple Stage Darkness
  5. Brooklyn-Queens (Dub Mix)
  6. Brooklyn-Queens (2nd Bass Mix)

Product of the Environment

  1. Product Of the Environment (Project Remix)
  2. Product Of the Environment (LP Version)
  3. Product Of the Environment (Redfern Gowanus Mix)
  4. 3 Strikes 5000 (Vocal)
  5. 3 Strikes 5000 (Instrumental)
  6. 3 Strikes 5000 (Stimulated Dummies Bonus Beatz)

The Cactus Vidie/Yo

The Cactus Vidie/Yo is a collection of 3rd Bass music videos, which was released in 1991. The video, which was distributed by Columbia Music Video, contained music videos of the album's singles as well as short skits featuring Gilbert Gottfried that appeared between the selections. The "Wordz of Wisdom" and "Triple Stage Darkness" videos were not full-length and only contained the first couple verses of the song. The video was only released on VHS and is now out of print.

The videos featured are as follows:

  1. Steppin' to the A.M.
  2. Wordz of Wizdom (Just a Liddle Somethin)
  3. The Gas Face
  4. Triple Stage Darkness (Give Em A Taste)
  5. Brooklyn-Queens

Songs

1Stymie’s Theme0:13
2Sons of 3rd Bass4:46
3Russell Rush0:24

References

The Cactus Album Wikipedia
(Text) CC BY-SA