Your Favorite White Boy

Apropos of absolutely nothing, I caught this a while back and I always wanted to post it. Above is the video for “Rat Bastard” from former 3rd Bass members Prime Minister Pete Nice and Daddy Rich off their album Dust To Dust.

Rap videos catch a lot of heat over their content, but those “street” videos have nothing on this piece of cinematic brilliance.  Not only do you see Pete Nice play Robert De Nero/Al Capone and crack some dude’s head with a baseball bat a la Untouchables (with blood and everything), but he and Daddy Rich are waving around guns. My favorite paty is when (SPOILER ALERT!!) Rich executes the, I’m guessing, “rat” at the end.

You would be hard pressed to find a video out now that has this kind of violence and/or body count.  It could be argued, I suppose, that the two were playing “characters” except for the fact that they are dressed and act like themselves throughout the video.

Its funny, in a sort of unintentional and cringe-inducing way.  I never really thought of Pete Nice, or 3rd Bass for that matter, as a gangster rap group, but they would apparently give N.W.A. Onyx a run for their money.  Give the Gas Face to these dudes and you’ll get shot in the face.  Blanks, of course, but still.  Bruce Lee was killed by blanks.

We should all thank Odin that Pete didn’t parlay this gangster image into the streets; instead he ended up writing a series of books about baseball.  Mayors Giuliani, Bloomberg you can thank your luck you didn’t have to tangle with that menace to society.

Footnote: the video was directed by Brett Ratner, who went on to do the X-Men and the Rush Hour franchises.  From humble beginnings to an appearance on Entourage.  You’ve led a full life, Mr. Ratner.

Tags: Daddy Rich, Pete Nice, Rat Bastard