SOURCE: deadspin.com
Ed. note: Inside, you'll find some of Peter Nash's (formerly Prime Minister Pete Nice) personal memory box from his early days as the cane-wielding MC of hip-hop group 3rd Bass. It's full of gaudy jewelry, tough-guy posing, unfortunate fades, and candid shots of some of the most famous hip-hop stars from the '90s before they were legends. Oh, and Gilbert Gottfried. Enjoy.
A classic from LA circa 1989 with the lil' fella, the late Eazy-E. I think Dre is in the background thinking, "I gotta find me a white-boy MC to produce in the future." And that's MF Doom in there too, before the mask.
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Freestylin' with EPMD and DMC at Elroy Cohen's 1988 wedding in the Dominican Republic. I got some more flix of PE wearing yarmulkes at the ceremony, but I'm having trouble finding them.
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Russell Simmons on the hunt with a 3rd Bass "Steppin' to the AM" t-shirt on at Jack the Rapper in Atlanta.
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With De La Soul and Monie Love for an interview on YO! MTV Europe. I think the host (in the trunk earrings) hooked up with Russell before the show. Everyone looks happy to be there.
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After Hammer dissed RUN-DMC back in '89 we invited DMC and Jam Master Jay to take part in a little Hammer stomp on the set of the "Gas Face" video.
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We posed for this one at CBS's Black Rock on 52nd to pick up our gold records for The Cactus Album. Our manager Lyor Cohen said he "smelled a hit" as he posed with Russell and Tommy Mottola in his pre-Mariah Carey days.
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From the PE/3rd Bass European Tour: Flav knocked on our hotel room doors at like 7 a.m. in Glasgow, Scotland, and wanted me and Serch to go feed some pigeons with him. Not kidding. We ended up feeding pigeons, took 20 kids to Mickey D's for breakfast(on Flav), and, finally, went to a magic store where Flav bought platform shoes, fake shit, and a stockpile of fake blood capsules. He's got that stuff in the bag. By the time we got to Germany the next day Flav put the fake blood to use: he dropped to the floor in an airport, fake convulsions and spat up mad blood. He stood up and pointed and laughed at me and Serch saying "Yeah Boooooyee...its the fake blood from the magic store, G!"
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The Golden Age of Rap...How'd Hammer get in there? Like Rap Masters said, "Living the American Dream."
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With Gilbert Gottfried in the Def Jam offices on Broadway and Great Jones. Gilbert showed up for the "Gas Face" video scenes at the office in some clothes he probably had from the '70s. By the end of the video shoot he was shouting out, "I gotta get me some up-and-coming porno bitches."
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On stage performing "Steppin to the AM" for "It's Showtime at the Apollo Theatre" in 1989. We pretty much ripped it for the Apollo crowd, but I remember Serch punched a hole in the wall backstage thinking we didn't rip it enough.
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Ticket from 3rd Bass at the Apollo Theatre August 31, 1989.
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Ad for 3rd Bass Jungle Bros, and Tribe show at the Ritz in NYC March 2, 1990. I remember Africa was rocking some sort of amazing technicolor dream coat and I think Kool Herc was in the house that night. It was a "who's who" of Old School.
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LL showed up to our album release party in LA and I guess he was upset with the response to his "Walking With A Panther" album, so he proceeded to jump on stage and unveiled some "Mama said Knock You Out" shit. He pretty much stole the show and we took this flick afterwards.
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We got one of our breaks at the OMNI in Atlanta opening up for Big Daddy Kane on the LL tour in '89. All the talk was that Kane and Slick Rick had some beef and couldn't be in the same room together. I remember they accidentally ended up in an elevator together. I remember drinkin' 40oz's with King Sun on the bus after the show.
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I found this polaroid in a stack of stuff the other day. It was taken by Charlie Ahearn, of Wild Style fame, for an Interview magazine article in the winter of 1990.
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With Professor Prince Paul, the super-producer of De La Soul on the set of the "Gas Face" video in 1989. First time I met Paul was backstage at the Latin Quarters for a Stetsasonic show. We all got there in an Aerostar with Walter and our-then manager, Lumumba Carson.
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Winter, '88: This is probably the earliest photo of me and Serch together on the M-I-C at HotelAmazon on Rivington Street. Def Jam's late-great Dave Funkenklein took the photo which was recently given to me by Chris LaSalle of Hellcat Records.
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Spring, '85: A Pre-3rd Bass shot of the "Servin' Generalz": Lord Scotch (the 1st white MC); Shameek aka Cool Papa Sha; and the Prime Minister at K&I Jewelers in the Albee Square Mall on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. You could see Bizmarkie, Kane or Clark Kent at K & I on the regular. Scotch (aka. Kid Benneton) went to Music and Art with Serch, Dana Dane and Slick Rick and introduced me to Serch at the Latin Quarters in '86. His bro, Jonathan Lethem, wrote about him in his book, Fortress of Solitude.
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Honest Abe Lincoln would've been proud to see Too Short and 3rd "Base" rock the Prairie Conv. Center in Springfield IL...
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The Good Old Days..."Rap rules the 90s"...Word Up!
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It wasn't too often the musician you sampled was down with the program. But jazz great Grover Washington, Jr. (hand on my shoulder) was down with us sampling his horn line from the song "Mr. Magic "on the Cactus album's "Monte Hall" (AJ Daulerio's favorite).
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Opening up for De la Soul at the Ritz NYC, 1989. Note the precise and tight "3rd Bass" shape-up Serch is sporting, compliments of the late-great DJ Subroc from KMD
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From the archives: A Flyer with a piece by SAKE-One from the first hip hop radio show at Columbia Univ: The Prime Minister Peter Nice and DJ Clark Kent's "We Could Do This Show" 1985-6.
