Background
Most of the music was produced by Sam Sever alongside members MC Serch and Pete Nice, except for the Prince Paul-produced tracks "The Gas Face" and "Brooklyn-Queens," and "Steppin' to the A.M." and "Oval Office" by The Bomb Squad. The album generally features songs that are lyrical showcases or are about women (such as the hidden sexual meaning of "Oval Office"). The song "Sons of 3rd Bass" can be viewed as a diss to the Beastie Boys (who had recently severed ties with 3rd Bass' record label, Def Jam) in that it references them in many lines such as this one uttered by MC Serch in the first verse.
- Swarm to the lyrics cause Serch is your father
- Screaming "Hey Ladies", why bother?
The song "Wordz of Wisdom" was recorded while the group performed under the name "Three the Hard Way." Their name was changed after they signed to Def Jam, however, the recording made its way onto the album.
The group had a minor hit with the single "The Gas Face". The accompanying video, which featured a bevy of humorous cameo appearances that included Gilbert Gottfried, Flavor Flav, Salt-n-Pepa, and Erick Sermon, garnered respectable MTV airplay. The song also features Daniel Dumile in his recording debut. At the time, he was recording under the alias Zev Love X, a member of the rap duo KMD, but would later come to be known as MF DOOM. KMD were mentioned several times on the album, and they appeared in the music videos for "The Gas Face" and Steppin' to the A.M."
Read more about this topic: The Cactus Album
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—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)