Michael Berrin (born May 6, 1967),[2] better known by his stage name MC Serch, is an American rapper and record executive. He gained fame as part of the hip hop group 3rd Bass, who were active in the late 1980s and early 1990s and released three studio albums.
In his solo work, Serch is credited with having discovered American rapper Nas in 1992. Serch introduced the rapper to Columbia Records and executive produced his debut studio album, Illmatic (1994).[3]
He also helped to cultivate the rapper O.C. after hearing him on the Organized Konfusion song "Fudge Pudge", helping him secure a record contract with Wild Pitch Records. In 1995, Serch also mentored the newly formed Non Phixion.
Since retiring from performing, Serch has run a promotions company (Serchlite Music). He appeared in Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2000) as a member of the fictitious hip-hop group Mau Maus (played by other real-life hip-hop performers such as Mos Def, Charli Baltimore and Canibus). His character was a white revolutionary who was supposed to be "1/16 black".[7]
From 2003, he hosted Serch In The AM on Detroit urban radio station FM 98 WJLB; he was the first Jewish DJ at that station. MC Serch was dismissed from WJLB in March 2006, reportedly due to a dispute over a Super Bowl weekend party at the club Motor City Live.[8]
Serch has since returned to the radio airwaves in Detroit on the urban station Hot 102.7. Serch has also worked with Hot 102.7's youngest intern (The Black Intern) Daniel Berry, and Rucka Rucka Ali (Comedy Music Artist). Serch appeared in some of Rucka Rucka Ali's music videos.
In 2018 he gave an interview with DJ Vlad in which he claimed MC Hammer had once taken out a $50,000 contract on Serch's life, following a misunderstanding over lyrics.[9]
In May 2021, MC Serch joined VidSig, a live global video platform, as Chief Creative Consultant.[10]
Serch was an executive at HitPiece, a startup creating NFTs of songs that shut down in February 2022 under threat of action by Recording Industry Association of America, which labeled it a "scam operation" and after public criticism by major artists including Wolfgang Van Halen.[11]
^"The 10 Best Rappers of All Time". Billboard. November 12, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2021. 20 years later, Illmatic is widely seen as the best hip-hop album ever, a flawless blend of vivid street poetry and dream-team producers...
^"Interfaith Celebrities: Of Hip Hop, Heroes and the Oscars". interfaithfamily.com. January 12, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2013. Berrin, who is Jewish, worked until recently for a very popular Detroit radio station that mostly plays hip hop music and whose listening audience is mostly black. ... As reported in a January 25 issue of the Detroit Jewish News, Berrin, 39, and his wife, Chantel, are members of Congregation Sharrey Zedek, a large Conservative synagogue in suburban Detroit. In a 1993 profile in the News, Chantel— a convert to Judaism—talked about her conversion and Michael talked about race and religion.
