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Mase: Harlem World
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Best known as Puff Daddy's favorite sidekick, Mase secured his place as a Bad Boy label favorite through a series of guest appearances on hit singles by other artists. By the time he issued his debut album, the Bad Boy promotional machine had effectively already made him a star. His flow was slow and relaxed, and his raps often unabashedly simple, which helped make him especially popular with the younger segment of Puff Daddy's pop-rap audience (they could understand him and rap along). Of course, he was never much of a critical favorite for exactly the same reason, but that became a moot point when, just before the release of his second album, he announced his retirement from rap to pursue a career in the ministry. Mase was born Mason Durrell Betha in Jacksonville, FL, on August 27, 1977. His family moved to Harlem when he was five, but at age 13, he was sent back to Florida amid concerns that he was falling in with the wrong crowd.
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[I]f any of this bothered the ladies who were shrieking for Mase, that didn't stop them from shrieking some more. For this hip hop audience, cuddly and raunchy are anything but mutually exclusive. And with a parallel capacity for contradiction, Mase likes to believe the black Barney can get respect. Harlem World brims with revitalized hooks and sexy delights, some as sweet as the Billy Lawrence duet ''Love U So,'' some as disenchanted as the Lil' Cease/Jay-Z confab ''Cheat on You''; ''24 Hrs. To Live,'' with his old LOX crew, is a devastating street conceit shouting doom and redemption. But the album protests too much about who's soft: ''I shock niggaz/Who thought I was a pop nigga/You go against Mase you get your wig rocked, nigga,'' or: ''A nigga smack me I'ma smack him back/If it lead to the guns then that be that.'' And like Biggie, only within a radically narrower compass of experience, Mase is tortured by fear and doubt: ''Niggaz say they love me, they don't love me/I know deep down they wanna slug me/I feel the vibe when they hug me.''
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In 1997, P. Diddy and Mase ruled the Hip Hop world. They were the Batman and Robin of hip hop, dropping hit after hit after hit. Mase went on to release two solo efforts which continued building his legacy within Bad Boy.
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That same year, Mase was featured on a single of 112's "Only You (remix)," which instantly showcased the young rapper's talent. In 1997, he recorded and released his first album, Harlem World, which became a multi-platinum success, and featured the hit single "Feel So Good," which included a prominent sample of Kool & the Gang's "Hollywood Swinging" and the chorus from Miami Sound Machine's "Bad Boy". Other successful Harlem World singles included "What You Want," "Lookin' at Me," and "24 Hours to Live." Notably popular among mainstream audiences, Mase became one of the label's premiere acts.
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[T]hen all subtlety goes out the window with "Gotta Survive". Within the last 45 seconds of this track, the pastor in Mase emerges. He recognizes that the world may not want to hear his message but he declares that the world knows no success unless they know Jesus.
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Harlem World