Serch rose to fame as one of the first white rappers with hip-hop group 3rd Bass and released two hit singles as solo act MC Serch. He discovered Nas and produced his first two albums. He knew Russell Simmons and Diddy and Jay-Z before they were moguls.
So what’s he doing hosting a syndicated daytime talk show where he helps everyday people solve their problems?
“I think historically I’ve been through it all,” says Serch of his self-titled conflict talker, which premieres in a four-week test on Monday (4 p.m. on Ch. 11).
“The challenges of a marriage, balancing a married life with a career that doesn’t necessarily favor marriage, being a father, dealing with infidelity, dealing with emotional cheating and coming out the other side of it and being able to survive through a lot of mistakes.
“And a lot of therapy — years of therapy,” he says. “I just found that I’ve learned so much and I was able to work on so much of myself and figure myself out enough that I could help other people figure themselves out.”
Serch — who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Far Rockaway, Queens (he was born Michael Berrin) — started helping callers through their problems when he was working as radio DJ in Detroit.
One day a man called threatening to kill himself unless Serch gave him a reason to live.
After two-and–a half hours of coaxing, Serch convinced the caller to get help.
“My show kind of transformed from being tongue-in-cheek and a little comedy into people calling in their middle of their day with issues,” Serch says.
He also coached young artists on the pressures of the music business in his two VH1 shows — 2007’s “The (White) Rapper Show” and “Miss Rap Supreme” in 2009.
“Serch” will feature familiar talk- show tropes — overbearing mothers, angry youths, baby daddies/mammas — but with the host using his street-smarts background to help his guests.
Monday’s premiere episode introduces a man with six kids by four different women whose ongoing conflict with two of the mothers is keeping him from being a good father.
Serch schools him with what he likes to call “G.A.M.E.” (Grown Ass Man Education).
Serch — who graduated from New York’s High School of Music & Art, — counts Phil Donahue and Montel Williams as his two talk-show role models.
And, he says, he hopes to channel the audience-interaction skills of the former and the ease with guests of the latter in his hosting, which has faced some learning curves in the transition from radio to TV.
“I learned very quickly to get into the meat of the conversation much sooner than I would naturally do,” Serch says.
“When I was on radio I could kind of ease into something. In TV the compelling has to happen in the first 90 seconds or somebody’s going to tune out.”
Serch says he’ll always remain involved in music. He recently reopened Serchlight Publishing and is signing writers and producers, while 3rd Bass reunited last summer to perform a couple of dates.
But, he says, his rapping days are probably over.
“The new page in my life is what I’m doing on the show,” he says of his Ch. 11 debut.
“That’s my new performance space.”