Growing up in the 90’s was a tough
time when it came down to musical influences. Everyone had mad skills and you
wanted to emulate their sound or even lyrics; only problem with that is you
would have to lead the life these rappers were talking about, and most of them
didn’t even live that life. The mid 90’s era of hip-hop was Gangsta music, the
dark period in Hip-Hop, the infamous East/West coast beef, the period when gang
violence was at its highest here in Los Angeles; I’m sure some of you out there
remember on, “April 29,1992/there was a riot on the streets tell me where were
you?” For those who don’t remember, I’ll break down the 90’s in short, a simple
time that was complex and full of color, the 90’s in a nut shell. In the middle
of all this East/West coast beef, emerged a rapper out of Harlem by the name of
Mase.
Mase
wasn’t your typical rapper for that time, if anything, Mase kind of puts you in
mind of today’s rappers but with a stronger flow; he was ahead of his time sort
of speak. So when Mase came out a lot of kids (including myself in 6th
grade face palm) wanted to be like Mase.
When you listen to his first album, some of the stuff wasn’t pretty but
it was more cleaned up then what Wu-Tang or Tha Dawg Pound was saying at that
time. Mase was smooth with the ladies; he was a player, however he’s someone at
that time, you wouldn’t want to have your son emulate how to treat a woman; He
was a playful normal guy from Harlem who linked up with P-Diddy and Biggie on
Bad boy records to make a song you might be familiar with. A few say Mase was
harmless when compared to what was out at that time; would you rather have
dealt with a Mase or have a little, “murder was the case that they gave me” on
your hands? You decide.
2Pac died and following six months later the
demise of biggie, lead to the success of Mase’s debut album Harlem World. The after math of the two men dying put both
record labels in a strange position, Snoop left death row and went to No Limit,
Mase stayed on Bad Boy for one more album, then retired to lead a life of God;
there was a rumor going around saying he wanted to leave because he was scared
of what happened in Hip-Hop. I don’t blame him if it was true, three years after
Pac and Biggie died, Suge Knight still wanted to battle because death row was
becoming irrelevant fast. Mase left Hip-Hop and dedicated his life to God,
wrote a book about his life and then, Murda M-A-$-E, became Pastor Mason Betha;
from this point on, he’s been on and off with Hip-Hop.
Recently,
Mase dropped a song and did a music video which I think is fairly good but the
critics and haters think otherwise; most of them being Christian. The new song
he has out is labeled as feel good music. A lot of these critics in Hip-Hop
today don’t remember Hip-Hop in the late 80’s early 90’s phrase when De la
soul, Fresh prince, a tribe called quest, even Naughty by Nature, came out with
songs that were feel good songs right before Gangsta rap started to submerge
again in 93. Make a long story short, There was a time period when rappers just
came out with positive songs, maybe a little edgy if you listened to Naughty,
but for the most part, just positive vibes; most Christian people need to
understand that’s what Mase is bringing back or trying to bring back in today’s
Hip-hop; today’s Hip-Hop is positive, if anything a lot softer then the
predecessors before it, but most of the music is talking about heavy drug
usage; of course you feel good if you’re rollin’, on molly, ate some Scooby snacks
while being cross faded with a white
girl taking veggies, you all good
However,
from what I know of, Mase doesn’t appear to be on that, he appears to be
bringing back some positive sounds, something this world needs. “Oh at first he
was a pastor, now he’s a rapper!? Pick one!” He did, if he made someone feel
good for three minutes, if he lifted someone’s spirit, if the positivity of his
song moved someone and made them happy which he did because there’s a lot of
people happy to see him back, then he’s done his job as a pastor and as a
performer. When you lead people, one is suppose to show them the light not show
them light if you get what I mean. I might be looking deeper into this but the
man does not appear to be stupid, he appears he wants to live life and he loves
music, and a lot of hip-hop heads do not like Gospel rap; nobody wants to be
preached to when there listening to music, however you can uplift someone’s
spirit through music, by bring up their vibrancy…Google light body when you get
a chance….on that note check out his recent song called “Nothing” feat Eric
Bellinger. Thank you for stopping by “No Title” the random blog, hope you
enjoy, feel free to roam around and please, when your finished, click on those
little green links. One love.
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