As a member of 3rd Bass, MC Serch pumped out three proper studio albums in the late ’80s/early ’90s, including the 1989 platinum-selling classic, The Cactus Album. But in the early 2000s, he ventured off into radio, becoming the first Jewish disc jockey on the Detroit radio station FM 98 WJLB.
Now, as the host of his newly launched podcast — The Serch Says Podcast — his on-air aspirations are stronger than ever. During a recent interview with GroovyTracks, the veteran Hip Hop artist revealed his Timeless Podcast Company had just closed a deal with The Orchard and Sony. The deal takes Serch another step closer to becoming “Hip Hop’s Howard Stern,” a goal he’s had for years.
“I’ve always wanted to be Hip Hop’s Howard Stern,” he says. “Forget about like the old Howard Stern — I’m not trying to be a shock jock. But what I love about Howard is how much research he does in his interviews. How in depth they are. How they become conversations. That’s always been my thing. When I was at JLP, my program director said that to me. He’s like, ‘You are the Hip Hop Howard Stern’ because of the conversations I would have with my guests.”
Serch cites an interview he once had with actor Jon Cryer — who appeared in films such as Pretty In Pink (1986) and Hot Shots (1991) — and discovered Cryer first learned about Hip Hop culture at The Bronx High School of Science in the Bronx, New York.
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Much like his recent Method Man episode, Serch found Cryer was really opening up during the course of their conversation, something not every interviewer is able to make happen.
“I had a conversation with Jon Cryer about him going to Bronx Science and finding out about Hip Hop,” he says. “His sister was the real head and put him up on shit. We are people just having these conversations that aren’t interviews. They just become two guys just talking. I really felt like the Method Man interview he really let his guard down in a lot of ways.”
But unfortunately for Serch, Joe Budden has already been christened “Hip Hop’s Howard Stern.” In 2018, the New York Times ran a profile story on Budden called “How Joe Budden Became the Howard Stern of Hip Hop,” which detailed how meeting manager Ian Schwartzman was a life-altering event for the former Slaughterhouse rapper.
“In terms of what he was capable of doing as a personality, it was limitless,” Schwartzman said. “The perception of him was rough around the edges, a loose cannon.” He truly thought Budden could be the “Hip Hop Howard Stern.”
Like Stern, Budden has amassed a massive fanbase. In fact, The Joe Budden Podcast was rated Spotify’s No. 1 podcast last year. Meanwhile, Stern continues to post episodes of The Howard Stern Show Podcast on SiriusXM to his YouTube channel, which boasts over 900,000 subscribers.
In all fairness, Budden probably leans more toward “shock jock” Stern than current Stern. After all, Stern’s career was built on the outrageous things he would do and say on-air, something Budden has perfected. Serch is referring more to mirroring Stern’s deep knowledge of every subject he interviews.
There’s much more on the way from Serch. The Serch Says Podcast airs every Wednesday from 10 p.m. to midnight EST.
Check out a clip of the Meth interview above.
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