thaFormula.com - So what exactly happened with this album man that has made you drop it now over 10 years later?

MC Serch - The thing about this record is man I never really remembered what I did with the masters. We had recorded the album in '93 around the same time that Nas was in the studio working on "Illmatic" and around the same time that O.C. was working on "Word Life" and I was just in the lab. It was me DJ Eclipse, DJ Riz and our engineer and we were just recording and playing around in the studio and coming up with songs and ideas. Then I got the job at Wild Pitch and "Illmatic" dropped, Serchlite started and I became a dad and the master really weren't that important after that. I had had a meeting with Russell to put out the album and let him hear the songs that I was working on and what my ideas were and Russell was hesitant to put the album out. He said it was a very New York East Coast underground sounding album. So he gave me an option at the time that if I didn't get back with Pete (Nice) and do the 3rd Bass record that he wasn't gonna put out this album, and I didn't really want to make a 3rd Bass record. I still felt like I wanted to make my solo album and I wasn't interested in the 3rd Bass record so I told him "never mind" and kind of took the job at Wild Pitch, worked on the O.C. Record and worked on Nas' "Illmatic" and watched Nas' career develop and never really thought about the masters.

thaFormula.com - So when did you come across them again?

MC Serch - I moved to Detroit to do the morning show 4 years ago and a bunch of stuff went into storage. I was emptying out the storage thing last year and I found the masters and I just thought "you know lets put them up let's listen to them and let's see what's on there." So that kind of prompted me to want to release this record. I didn't call it a new album because it's not a new album. It's new because people haven't heard it but it's really just some sessions from 1994 that I thought people would be interested in hearing because it's a true 1994 record. It was made in that era and that's what I sounded like in '94.

thaFormula.com - It still holds up pretty good though today man, there are some cool tracks on there…

MC Serch - To be honest though man I don't know if it holds up and I appreciate that bro so don't get it twisted. But I don't really expect it to hold up. Like I hope people don't compare it to what's out today.

thaFormula.com - No I meant I think it held up well when placed next to you previous work man and that era 'cause you know I really enjoyed that era man...

MC Serch - Yeah me too man. It was a great time in Hip-Hop. You know Gangstarr, Wu-Tang, Nas, Jay, Biggie, and Snoop. It was a great, great time and that's really what I wanted it to be about. I think there has to be with the wave of internet and the wave of digital distribution, there has to become this segment of Hip-Hop for grown-ups. I mean I'm still listening to Hip-Hop. I still listen to it for inspiration, I still listen and purchase rap records and I'm still a fan. I still think there is a large community like that and they are not going to retail no more, they are on the net. I just wanted some grown folks to have a moment where they can just listen to some Hip-Hop that's still just fun and not trying to be too serious and not trying to be something its not. It's just some words, verbs, and nouns from a still very hungry MC from 1994 and that's really what motivated me to put out the record because again I didn't remember any of those lyrics. So to hear me spit them for the first time and listen to them I was like "wow that's not wack." It's not wack in the least and I want people to know especially the people that have heard the music on www.Serchlitemusic.com. You know I love when people go "wow I wish that came out in '94, I would have bought that." That's the kind of validation that I appreciate is that people say "hey that was a great record," and yes it does take me back to '94 when I was hungry and I was xyz and I was twenty-something doing whatever.

thaFormula.com - As far as the 3 unreleased 3rd Bass tracks on the album, how do you feel about these listening to them now? Are you glad that you didn't put out another 3rd Bass record or do you wish you would have?

MC Serch - I really wish that Pete and I were in a different place in 2000 when we started working on the "Ichabod's Cranium" album that we could have finished it. It was fun being in the studio with Pete, it was fun watching him write again and watching him go through the studio process. Because Pete always had lyrics but Pete would love to write in the studio and it was great to watch him kind of go back through that, like writing in the studio feeling the buzz and the moment of the record and kind of connecting to it. It was a lot of fun working with close friends 'cause that's really what that record was about too, was working with close friends and people we were connected with and just having a good time making music.

thaFormula.com - So you do wish you would have finished and put out the album then?

MC Serch - Yeah. In 2000 when we started working on it there was a lot of interest in a 3rd Bass record. There was really a lot of "I wonder what these guys are gonna sound like?" I remember obviously 'cause at the time I had a deal through Sony and was gonna put it out through my deal with them and there was a lot of interest. I was really excited, there was a lot of buzz in retail. The distribution arm of Sony was really geeked about it. We had done a presentation for all the distributors and retailers and we performed and it was just a great vibe in the room. It was just wonderful man, so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately Pete was so involved in what he was doing and I was so involved in what I was doing that booking studio time became increasingly similar.

thaFormula.com - Listening to the "Cats in a Cradle" track you and Pete did was different then the other 3rd Bass records. It was more of a grown up 3rd Bass record and I think it might have worked for you guys...

MC Serch - The funny thing is man to me and I tell this to artists all the time, when you feel like you're in a rush to put something out then it's not the right record. Like great records should stand the test of time. They should always be great sounding records whether you recorded them yesterday or a year ago. Like I always appreciate and respected MC's that would make something and then sit on it and then go back and listen to it a month later to make sure they still enjoyed it as opposed to the MC's and the artists that are like "oh I got to put this out right now, this is for this moment." Yes there are records that are for this moment, but great records are for any moment and Pete and I always thought about classic records, making records that weren't about being catchy for right now, for being great records period. That "Cat's in a Cradle" record to me and Pete was about exactly what you said. It was about our growth and us being men and I think any man who is having a child can appreciate that, that they want their son to emulate them, to grow up and be like them and experience what they experience, it was positive. So that record was important to me and Pete. Now with Pete being a father himself I think he truly appreciates that record.

thaFormula.com - Those solo records on the album, who produced those tracks?

MC Serch - That was myself and DJ Eclipse. DJ Riz did the scratching but the majority of those were produced by Eclipse and myself.

thaFormula.com - So you weren't really working with Prince Paul and Sam Sever anymore?

MC Serch - At the time Sam had a huge publishing deal and he was working on a bunch of different projects and again those songs were really about me, Eclipse, and Riz just kind of making songs. That wasn't like the album. Those were the initial 8 or 9 songs we recorded and then we were gonna go to Russell, get our budget and go work with other producers and kind of do other things. But those were the things that we could do while we were recording on our own.

thaFormula.com - So do you plan on dropping anything more after this as far as digital only releases like this album?

MC Serch - Yeah I'm definitely gonna be doing a lot of digital release stuff. Some really exclusive stuff, some for limited 30 day releases. Just a bunch of different stuff. There is a bunch of different ideas I have musically. Another thing we are doing is I working with Arab and Palestinian artists on a record called "Peace in the Middle East" and it's basically a record that will be available for download soon. 100 percent of the proceeds go to orphanages in Palestine and Israel that help children who have lost their parents to the war. There is a song called "Hang 'Em" by The Noose that has a video right now on Youtube that is a part of that project.

thaFormula.com - But as for you yourself solo-wise, is that it?

MC Serch - Nah, I'm still recording doing mix tapes and still doing stuff. It's about really having a voice and trying to feel like I have something that I wanna say. I'm not really trying to force anything. So I don't have a schedule yet but I feel like there is still some things I wanna say and still some things that need to be said and I'm just gonna find the right way to say it.

thaFormula.com - Now as far as "The White Rapper Show," you do know that there is a lot of angry people out there right?

MC Serch - Can we define what you mean by angry people?

thaFormula.com - Well a lot of people felt that everything you said about Hammer as far as being wack and messing up Hip-Hop, they feel like you're doing the same thing with "The White Rapper Show." How do you defend that or do you defend it?

MC Serch - I haven't heard that yet. You're the first person to say that. I don't know if I'm trying to defend anything. The thing that I love about the show so much is that it is a true mirror of what white kids have grown to think Hip-Hop is. These are 10 white MC's from different parts of the country that all have their different kind of take on what Hip-Hop is and I think Ego Trip is doing a great job of not only educating them but educating the audience as to what real Hip-Hop is. I don't know very many white MC's that get the chance to meet Grandmaster Flash and Brand Nubian and really be in the mix and allows them to kind of come into a very real sense of being a part of the Hip-Hop community. But not only that, I think at the end of the day you are judged on your skills, the reason that you stay in the house is that you are judged by your skills. I don't think anyone ever questioned whether Hammer had skills or not. I don't think that was a big part of his attraction. His attraction was that he was an entertainer. At the end of the day this show is based on mic skills and about being a great MC. I just really feel that the show does a great job in showcasing the pressure cooker that is Hip-Hop and the pressure cooker that it is to be successful and come up with something that can be successful and speak to the masses. I'm just really very proud of the show and its delivering this message.

thaFormula.com - Another problem is that a lot of MC's have stepped up recently and said they were rejected by the show because they were told they were too good to be on the show. Also a lot of white MC's cant believe that this is the best white MC's you could have found, was the purpose of this show to find the best white MC's or was the purpose to find the worst?

MC Serch - I think that there are definitely several different calibers that you have to look at when you're doing a TV show besides talent. Hip-Hop doesn't just base its success on talent. You have to be a character. You have to be a personality. You have to have a personality that's gonna carry you beyond your music. So we definitely looked at personality as well as we looked for white MC's. Also, VH1 did a great job of putting out an open casting call on VH1.com. We received thousands of entries. So if people are upset that they are not on the show or this is a false representation, well god willing if there is a season 2, you have an opportunity to be on there and you can put up or shut up.

thaFormula.com - So you don't feel that the show is making a mockery of Hip-Hop?

MC Serch -No not at all. How could it? First of all Ego Trip would never make a mockery of Hip-Hop just based on who those guys are at Ego Trip. That's the furthest they would ever do. But Hip-Hop has gotten to a place where we have forgotten its roots and I think this show does a great job of kind of circling the wagon back to the roots of Hip-Hop.

thaFormula.com - So Serch, break it down to people what they can expect when they hear this new album?

MC Serch -I hope they can enjoy the fact that if they are over 25 or over 30 that they can go back to 1994 and say "if I was gonna get a Serch record what would it have sounded like?" or at least "what would a portion of his record have sounded like?" I think for young people that kind of maybe are getting to know me because of the show and are getting to know who I am, it gives them an indication of the type of MC I once was and what I was doing when I was their age and it gives them an indication of what kind of artist I was. So I just want people to really enjoy listening to it and enjoy my interpretation of where Hip-Hop was in 1994.

thaFormula.com - Lastly, do you still regret how that battle went down with Bango?

MC Serch - Nah (Laughs) My whole thing with the Bango battle is that I should have talked about the fact that he had a New York skyline cut in the back of his head when he was from Cleveland, I would have shut him down. I didn't really go after him though. He came at me right before and said "yo let's not try and diss each other, lets just do it on another level," and I got caught up in that. I should have baked him. But I don't have any regrets cause I don't live by that mantra. Whatever I do I did, and whatever the recourse was it is what it is, but that's the beautiful part about going to sleep, that you wake up the next day and what's the past is the past, and you can only move for the future.

thaFormula.com - I just brought it up cause people don't know that you were a pretty good battle MC and I would have loved to see you go up against Mikey D in that battle?

MC Serch - Yeah I was a battle MC and I still get tested and its one part of what makes me who I am. The thing is too man a lot of people feel like I won that battle with Bango. Dudes tell me that they were there and that I won that battle. Also, going against Mikey would have been hot. Going against Mikey would have been a lot of fun. He was my man, but he was crack head skinny so there was definitely some jokes to get him with.

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