The 3rd

THE 3RD HAS YOUR FIX
Local hip hop group brings the club to your car

Article by Big Yogi contact: bigyogi@flypaperblog.com


People often like to talk about Columbus and the potential it has to become a major metropolis in the United States. Business and Community leaders meet monthly and are part of professional commissions (which I am part of also) that are charged with bringing together ideas to help move the city forward to making Columbus the next big destination. Personally I believe there are some very simple reasons that we fall short on this goal. First, just about every top ranked city has major sports teams. Sorry, I think hockey games are fun but not a major draw. I could be sitting next to a hockey all-star and not know who he was. Football, Basketball, and Baseball bring millions of visitors to cities. The second thing is a strong connection and support of the arts in the city. This means that certain cities aren't just known for big attractions, they're known for the talent that is sprouting up from their soil. New York, L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, Florida, even New Orleans have thriving music scenes that push local artists on local radio stations and out to the world. I say that to say this: Columbus, OH has a goldmine of talent and until that is tapped and pushed we will never become what we strive to be.

The Flypaper is here to do our part and so we present yet another edition of Ear to the Streets. This edition is all about you getting your FIX. What's the FIX? It's the dopeness that is THE 3RD, pressed up and put into your musical veins. Elevator Music Ink, Team Invasion Midwest, and DJ Giovanni have put together a classic mixtape from hip hop group THE 3RD titled CLUB IN MY CAR (The Fixtape). THE 3RD consists of members RASHAD, P.A. FLEX, CO CITY, BLAKSMIF, and SHAKES. Producer/Singer/Rapper RASHAD of the 3RD has recorded many major projects through some big labels and has collaborated with hip hop artists such as JADAKISS and STYLES P of the LOX but his group THE 3RD have been a favorite here in the city for years. For their latest project, THE 3RD teamed up with DJ GIOVANNI and TEAM INVASION MIDWEST (shout out to CFAVE and the crew) and have created the perfect blend of fresh lyrics, mass appeal, dope grooves, and street stories. Their title track 'Club in my car' mixes jazzy horn samples, simple drum and bass lines, steady flow , and RASHAD singing a soulful chorus. THE 3RD team up with other trailblazers in the local music scene throughout the Fixtape including L.E. from FLY UNION and WALLABE on the music hustle themed 'CD's out the trunk'. World Renowned DJ/Producer J. Rawls lends his talents on the track 'The Rooftop' featuring TRAV DAV.

CLUB IN MY CAR (The Fixtape) ends off with a banger 'Hustler's Prayer' with JADAKISS spitting fire over a RASHAD track.

Over all THE FIXTAPE is solid and rivals some of the best mixtapes I've heard in the past year. The CD has a variety of sounds and is a fresh change from the norm. Now it's time for the city to stand behind their artists. There is some HOT music right here in our city and it needs a platform. If the radio won't play it, then we need to find a way to get this music out. Any ideas? Until then stay stuck to the FLYPAPER while we keep our ears to the street.
- Big Yogi FLy Paper

Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Chris DeVille

In 1979, hip-hop transformed from an insular New York phenomenon into a burgeoning mainstream sensation with the release of Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." The year marked a beginning for Columbus hip-hop crew The 3rd, too - most of them broke out of the womb the same year their genre of choice broke out of the ghetto.

Now, three decades later, The 3rd is witnessing another genesis with the release of their first proper LP, Nineteen Seventy Nine.

"To me, Nineteen Seventy Nine is just like our lives up to this point: A lot of pain, a lot of struggle, a lot of happiness," rapper Co City said. "The underlying theme is struggle - what you had to do to get to this point."

Since befriending each other at Monroe Traditional Middle School in the '90s, the group, comprising rappers Blaksmif, Co City, P.A. Flex and Shakes plus producer Rashad, has honed its craft and bounced around the Columbus hip-hop community. But it wasn't until last year's Club in My Car mixtape that they felt fully satisfied with their creations.

Rashad, a former R&B singer whose career as a teen star never quite took off, built a home studio with advance money from childhood record deals. There, the group buckled down and conceived the "super soul" sound that dominates Nineteen Seventy Nine.

"Even before the old-school hip-hop, I like to think that some of us were raised on the soul music, the '60s and '70 soul music," Rashad said. "It just so happened that we were born into the hip-hop music."

The sample-heavy production forms a nostalgic blur that recalls Reflection Eternal and the '90s heyday of backpack rap. It's a fitting sound for an album that has no shame about its aim to return to thoughtful, real-life reflections in an era where "conscious" has become a dirty word in hip-hop.

"What was special about hip-hop was honesty and dialogue," Rashad said. "That's what made us the CNN of the hood. Nowadays everybody's trying to make-believe."

The album dropped digitally last month, and Sunday's release party at Mozaik Lounge is the first chance to get a hard copy. The group plans to preview new tracks at the event and wouldn't rule out an impromptu performance, but the next chance to catch them on stage is Feb. 12 at Skully's opening for Cleveland breakout star Chip Tha Ripper.

They've also got a deluge of releases planned in the wake of Nineteen Seventy Nine, including a series of solo EPs called Offerings and a collaboration with The Roots' Truck North called Satellites, designed as a showcase for their lyrical dexterity.

"Nineteen Seventy Nine is our story. We're not trying to impress anybody lyrically," P.A. Flex explained. "(Satellites) is mainly to let people know that we're serious MCs."

E-mail your local music news to Chris DeVille at cdeville@columbusalive.com - Columbus Alive