Mason Drell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by stage name Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper, songwriter and minister. He is known for his late 1990s run at Bad Boy Records alongside Sean "Diddy" Combs. From 1996 to 1999, as a lead or featured artist Mase had six Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and five US Rap No. 1 singles. His 1997 album Harlem World is Grammy nominated and certified quadruple Platinum by RIAA. His two other albums, Double Up and Welcome Back, are both certified Gold by RIAA.
Video Mase
Early life
Mase was born Mason Drell Betha in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 27, 1975, as a fraternal twin born almost two months premature. His twin sister's name was Stason; the twins had four older siblings. Growing up, Mase did not know his father. Fleeing her abusive husband, Mason's mother moved her children to Harlem, New York, when Mason was three or four years old. He spent his early teen years gambling, cutting class, chasing after girls, and running the streets of 139th and Lenox. When he was 13, he returned to Florida due to concerns that he and his friends were misbehaving. He moved back to New York at age 15.
Maps Mase
Career
1993-97: Children of the Corn and Bad Boy record deal
Mase played basketball for Manhattan Center along with his close childhood friend Cam'ron. As teens, the two dabbled in rap as a hobby, briefly forming a group called Children of the Corn ("corn" short for "corner") with fellow Harlem rappers Big L, Herb McGruff and Derek "Bloodshed" Armstead.. Damon Dash, a fellow Manhattan Center student, was the group's manager for a while. After graduating from high school in 1994, Mase went to the State University of New York at Purchase in Westchester, New York, on a basketball scholarship. He returned to Harlem after only a couple of semesters, intent on pursuing a career in rap. Stason introduced her brother to Cudda Love, a road manager for The Notorious B.I.G.. In 1996 Cudda took Mase to Atlanta, where Jermaine Dupri and Sean "Diddy" Combs were attending a rap convention. Shortly after meeting and rapping for Combs at the Hard Rock Café, Mase signed a $250,000 deal with Bad Boy Records and joined labelmate Biggie in publishing hip-hop music. Within a week Mase was featured on and also was in the video for 112's "Only You" with Biggie. He also appeared on three massive hits with Biggie and/or Combs: Can't Nobody Hold Me Down, Mo' Money, Mo' Problems and Been Around the World, which reached #1, #1 and #2 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.
1997-98: Harlem World
Mase's first solo LP, Harlem World, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Pop and R&B LP charts, selling over 270,000 copies in the U.S. its first week of release; it has since gone 4x Platinum in the United States. Mase told MTV about his first solo effort: "Well, basically what I'm trying to establish is a strong identity and foundation for Mase so a lot of people could know that Mase is his own person and Mase can do other things besides rap and music and things in that nature." Entertainment Weekly said of the album: "...creatively refreshing, well-crafted lyrics... rap's newest bad boy more than holds his own on his solo debut... his distinctive marble-mouthed drawl... creates a regular-guy persona all too rare in hip-hop."
The album spawned hits such as "Feel So Good" and "Lookin' at Me", which both reached #1 on the Rap Billboard charts, as well as "What You Want", which peaked at #3 on both the Rap and R&B Billboard charts. During that year Mase appeared on songs with Puff Daddy, Mariah Carey's "Honey", Brian McKnight's "You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time)", and Brandy's "Top of the World". Mase was in a relationship with Brandy at the time.
In 1998, Mase formed his own record label, "All Out Records". He signed his group Harlem World to the label while they were also under So So Def Recordings. He and Harlem World rapper Blinky Blink were featured on the song Take Me There by Blackstreet & Mýa which appeared on the soundtrack of The Rugrats Movie.
1999: Double Up and retirement
Mase's second effort, Double Up, was released in 1999 on Bad Boy Records and sold 107,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #11 on the US Top 200 chart. Double Up also featured more aggressive material.
On April 20, 1999, during an interview with Funkmaster Flex on New York radio station Hot 97, Mase announced his retirement from music to pursue a calling from God. He felt he was leading people, friends, kids and others down a path to hell, stating that he left to find God in his heart and follow Him. He declared it was time for him to serve God in his way, saying rap was not real, and that he wanted to deal with reality and that he had become unhappy with what he did, no matter how much it paid. The same year, Mase enrolled as a freshman at Clark Atlanta University, a historically black college, and began taking classes at CAU on August 19. Unlike other freshmen, Mase was permitted to live off campus and commute, but he is said to have downplayed his past as a musical performer.
Return to music and subsequent controversy
After a five-year hiatus from the music industry, Mase made a comeback with "Welcome Back" in summer 2004. Before the album's release, Mase was featured on Nelly's "In My Life," as well as the remix to Fat Joe's "Lean Back".
Welcome Back was released on August 24, 2004, through Bad Boy Records and distributed by Universal Music Group. It debuted at #4 in the US, selling 188,000 copies in its first week of release, and eventually went gold, selling 559,000 copies in the United States. The album was a product of Mase's new Christian persona. Portraying a "cleaner" image during this short-lived return to the industry, Mase dubbed himself "a Bad Boy gone clean" on the lead single, also titled "Welcome Back". This new approach had a mixed reception. Although the album was not as big a commercial success as Harlem World, the singles "Welcome Back" and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" received moderate radio airplay and video play on BET and MTV, with the latter single reaching #28 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Both singles were also certified gold by the RIAA.
In the mid-2000s, Mase spent time touring and recording with G-Unit and became a mainstay of 50 Cent's public image, appearing with him on magazine covers, on stage, and in music videos. He has since said that working with the group was not something he regrets, but that the message he was sending was a mistake. He joined G-Unit to appeal to a different audience so they could see that they could change just as he did, thinking that "in order to get people where I'm at, I have to go back to where I once was". Under G-Unit, he released Crucified 4 The Hood: 10 Years of Hate, a mixtape from the DJ Whoo Kid series, but an official album was never released. According to 50 Cent, Diddy refused to let Mase out of his contract with Bad Boy Records for anything less than $2 million. Uncertain that Mase's album would sell well enough to make up for that, 50 Cent gave up on trying to bring Mase onto G-Unit.
Second comeback
Following the formula that worked for him 13 years ago, Mase has begun to appear on R&B artists' remixes. In early June 2009, he was featured on the last verse of "Uptown Boy" by Harry O, signed to The Inc. Records, which also features Ron Browz. Weeks later, Mase appeared on a street remix for Drake's "Best I Ever Had". Mase stated that Michael Jackson's death lit a fire inside him and he is ready to come back. He appeared on Power 105.1 to discuss his comeback with "The Prince of New York" DJ Self. During the conversation, former-friend-turned-rival Jim Jones called in to make peace and hinted at the possibility of the two working together in the near future. Mase then used that radio show as his outlet to release new music throughout the rest of the summer, with a new song or feature premiere every Friday on DJ Self's show. On July 3, Mase appeared on the remix to Trey Songz's hit single "I Need A Girl", where he shouts out "And Diddy told them that '10 years from now we'll still be on top.' I thought I told you that we won't stop," referring to a line on "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems."
The first new track featuring Mase was released on July 10, featuring the first verse on "Get It," which was produced by Big Ran and also featured Cam'ron. Mase released the Ron Browz produced "Thinkin' 'Bout You" on July 17, then followed that up by adding a verse to the street remix of Teairra Marí and Kanye West's "Diamonds", on July 24. Mase used the last Friday in July to "Shut the City Down," which was the title of his second solo release since his comeback began. The song primarily discusses the rapper's legacy and makes reference to the ways in which rap, as a business, has changed since his heyday. He also makes reference to his new Batman-esque logo, and hints at himself as hip-hop's superhero. Mase released the song "Radio" on August 21 as a prelude to his upcoming mixtape "I Bleed Money." On September 11, Mase was one of the featured artists who appeared on the remix to Ron Browz's "Gimme 20 Dollars." This was the third time since his comeback that he worked with Browz and his first collaboration with Jim Jones since the two had their falling out years ago.
In an interview with MTV, Diddy spoke about Mase's comeback and what it could mean for Bad Boy Records. "Mase has called me... We've spoken. He's basically said, 'Just keep your eye on me. Making this switch, I gotta kinda bear this cross myself for a second. Just watch what I do.' I said, 'I've seen.' He's definitely one of the dopest emcees to ever touch the game. People can't deny that. He's one of the most successful. I've seen people come back from different things in this game. I said, 'Yeah. Without a doubt, I'll keep my eye on you.' I spoke to him today. He's out there working." Mase has been under contract with Bad Boy for 13 years.
In October 2009, Mase made an impromptu appearance on a live radio interview with Diddy-Dirty Money on V-103. He told the studio staff he brought documentation that would release him from the Bad Boy label and gave the forms to Diddy during the interview. Diddy signed the forms and announced "[Mase] has the freedom to go do whatever he wants to do." It was later revealed the forms did not end Mase's contractual obligations to the record label, but rather allowed him to appear on songs with artists from different labels.
2010-present: Now We Even
In 2010, Diddy offered Mase a one-year release from Bad Boy Records to settle all their differences, with which Mase decided to retire from rap for good although he was to be re-signed to Bad Boy after the year was up. On April 17, 2012, Spiff TV Films - a production company best known for videos made for Rick Ross's Maybach Music Group releases - tweeted a photo of Mase, Ross and French Montana, as well as singer Omarion and producer Rico Love, together in the studio. The picture sparked speculation that Mase would be making his third return to music since his announced retirement to become a pastor in April 1999 and leaving again in 2007. A week after the photo appeared, DJ Funkmaster Flex debuted a remix of Wale's "Slight Work" on radio show. The remix, of Wale's fourth charting single from his second album, "Ambition," features Meek Mill, Diddy, new Bad Boy signee French Montana and Ma$e, marking his first appearance on record since 2010.
Speaking during an on-air call following the remix's debut, Mase didn't address rumors about him possibly signing with Warner Brothers imprint Maybach Music Group, rather revealing that Bad Boy artist French Montana was the reason Mase was making his third comeback. Mase is served as an A&R representative on Montana's forthcoming Bad Boy debut, Excuse My French, as well as appearing on the remix of Montana's "Everything's a Go". "I'm not sure what kind of decisions he's going to make," Montana says, "[but] I would love to see him in my camp." In September 2012, Mase appeared on Kanye West's Cruel Summer, on the track "Higher" with The-Dream, Pusha T, and Cocaine 80s.
In December 2012, Mase announced that he was no longer signed to Bad Boy Records, saying he would not likely sign with a major label anytime soon. He told MTV the only two labels he would consider signing with were Kanye West's GOOD Music or Drake's OVO Sound. On October 18, 2013, Mase announced his next album would be titled Now We Even. He also said his wish list for guest appearances would include Jay-Z, Diddy, Beyoncé, Drake, 2 Chainz, Lauryn Hill, Meek Mill, Fabolous, Ariana Grande, Dipset, Eric Bellinger, Seal and CeeLo Green.
On July 21, 2017, Mase was featured along with Big Gigantic on Steve Aoki's track "$4,000,000" on the album Steve Aoki Presents Kolony.
On November 24, 2017, Mase released "The Oracle", a diss track at friend-turned-rival Cam'ron in response to the lyrical jabs Cam'ron aimed at him on his mixtape The Program.
Legacy and influence
Mase's melodic rap style has had an enduring influence on hip hop. Many rappers, such as Pusha T, Fabolous and Kanye West, have adopted Mase's lazy, yet melodic flow on several occasions. Jay Z and Drake among other rappers have borrowed Mase lines in their songs. Kanye West has described Mase as his favorite rapper ever.
Writings
- Revelations: There's a Light After the Lime (2001)
Discography
- Studio albums
- Harlem World (1997)
- Double Up (1999)
- Welcome Back (2004)
- Now We Even (TBA)
Filmography
References
External links
- Mase at IMDB
- El Elyon International Church
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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