Released: June 18, 1991

Featuring: KMD

Songwriter: Prime Minister Pete Nice MC Serch Onyx the Birthstone Kid MF DOOM

Producer: 3rd Bass KMD

[Pete Nice]
Ace is the place with the helpful hardware
Prime's got a spare, it's truth or dare

[MC Serch]
Stare into the face of a kid who is a hypocrite
Take all that hate -- why don't you try flippin it?

[Pete Nice]
I never went out out drinkin Pepsi sips
And never laced up my boots in fruity bits
I ain't British so my fetish ain't knighthood
Cause no one wears sequins in my neighborhood

[MC Serch]
Cause my feet are firmly planted on the concrete
High-top fade, with no need for a blonde streak
Now let me chill, it's a sign of maturity
And I would never steal a chant from a Black Greek fraternity

Elvis Elvis baby, too bold, too bold
Ice Ice baby, no soul, no soul

[Pete] Last year we +Gassed+ ya up
[Serch] Now herbals fill your pastures
[Pete] Masters of movement and mayhem
[Serch] while last year record shows stopped for a racist
[Pete] Countin cards and blackjacks, throwin aces
[Serch] Places I've seen and I've seen all types of grills
[Pete] It's the K.M.D. ?? G fills
[Serch] Which builds up the fence for the fibs you're sprayin
[Pete] My ace is in the hole
[Serch] So whatcha playin?

* Daddy Rich scratches Zev Love X saying
"K.M.D. and 3rd Bass is just ace in the hole, I mean soul.." *

[Zev Love X]
That's it right? Check it
Humm goes the kick, check out how I flick it
As the thumb presses quick, Sub on the mix (yeah!)
And yeah the Birthstone Kid, Zev Love X
And Mr. X took a lickin, so Onyx what's the time it is?

[Onyx]
Time is to get my cocka-doodle rooster yappin
Wakin devil heads with my poor style rappin
Time is a quarter shorter that in order be sorta
Tap in my line and just Knowledge me

[Zev Love X]
Eats the baby food with no bib
And ad-lib from the Reverand Rib's crib
The lesson is.. YEAHHH, some ?? true and fix
Yeah all garbage no fib
I'm talkin bout the Nubians (wake us up) the black man
No sugar sweet snacks for the sour sap
To see home, why should I have to check the maps?
The haps, is negative I give many many caps
For a heavy heavy gun, about a, ton it weighs
That keep you, bustin off for days as sure as every sucker pays
In time, tis mine
The cause is a hole where the bass is ace for rhymes

[Onyx]
Evils in my midst bound to get crushed, Rush
Helps to manage, we're Kausin Much Damage
So we go on and on, word bond
Mics they got torn by the Kause long as Jimmy Cracks Corn bores
Hamhand gets no support
By the God Squad, God Body, for short call me God Born
Headnod to this like a King of Swing, thing and
Check the verse I disperse, see what I'm bringin
Is an ace in the hole
Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh a ace in the hole!
Yeahh.. ace in the hole?
Uh-huh, uh-huh, a ace in the hole!

[Pete Nice]
The Zev Love X (ACE IN THE HOLE)
Subroc (ACE IN THE HOLE)
MC Onyx (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To MC Serch (ACE IN THE HOLE)
DJ Richie Rich (ACE IN THE HOLE)
?? (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To Cool Poppa Sha (ACE IN THE HOLE)
My man Smoke (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To one and another (ACE IN THE HOLE)
Sig Luva (ACE IN THE HOLE)
Boogie man J Quest (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To Kurious Jorge (ACE IN THE HOLE)
And jump to Bobbito (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To the *censored* (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To SD 50's (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To G.Y.P. (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To my man Sam Sever (ACE IN THE HOLE)
My man Prince Paul (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To the crackhead gams (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To the one Chubb Rock (ACE IN THE HOLE)
To Vanilla Wafer.. *pause* .. later!
{sarcastically} WORD TO YOUR MOTHA!

Your mother.. man ohh man word to your MUTHA!

3rd Bass

In 1986, white rapper Lord Scotch introduced Peter ‘Pete Nice’ Nash to Michael ‘MC Serch’ Berrin at the famous NY nightclub Latin Quarter. At the time, Pete Nice hosted a hip hop radio show on Columbia University’s radio station with Richard “Richie Rich” Lawson. The three began performing as 3 the Hard Way, later calling themselves 3rd Bass. They soon signed with Def Jam Records.

3rd Bass released their first single without any press photos or interviews to intentionally hide the fact both rappers were white. After a writer from The Village Voice exposed them, the group quickly became “the first critically respected white hip-hop group since the Beastie Boys”.

“Steppin' To The A.M.” and “The Gas Face” both peaked at #5 on the US Rap Chart and The Cactus Album was certified Gold within six months. Overseas, those two singles plus “Brookyn-Queens” achieved modest success in the UK. In New Zealand, “The Gas Face” and “Brooklyn-Queens” were both top 40 hits. Years later, The Source would name The Cactus Album as one of the 100 Best Rap Albums.

From the album