September 27, 2004 @ 9:14 pm

VIBE.com Interview: Welcome Back, Ma$e

by: Shanel Odum

Now you’ve read the VIBE magazine cover story, check out the VIBE Online interview…

Remember Puffy’s charismatic sidekick—the one with the Cabbage Patch grin as blinding as the iridescent ensembles he used to rock? Well, if you haven’t heard about his second coming, you’re probably still waiting for N’Sync’s reunion album. Mason Betha’s resurrection to the hallowed halls of hip hop comes after a five year mecca to the soul spa otherwise known as church.

Remember Puffy's charismatic sidekick-the one with the Cabbage Patch grin as blinding as the iridescent ensembles he used to rock? Well, if you haven't heard about his second coming, you're probably still waiting for N'Sync's reunion album. Mason Betha's resurrection to the hallowed halls of hip hop comes after a five year mecca to the soul spa otherwise known as church. The molasses tongued emcee has sent his shiny suits to the drycleaners for Welcome Back, opting for a simple black T and Air Force Ones instead. No, he hasn't abandoned his calling as a crusader for Christ but he hasn't decided to use the recording studio as his personal pulpit, either. He just knows the game needs him now more than ever. When VIBEOnline recently sat down to congregate with Pastor Betha, his answers were as polished and rehearsed as a politician rallying support at The Republican Convention. The new Mase knows better than to face the firing squad unprepared-his most recent interviews have been as much about diss-dodging as album promoting. He's become a spin-doctor in his own right. When someone threatens his life, he prays for him. Try attacking his credibility and he'll use his Bible as a buffer. As Murda Mase rests in peace, Pastor Betha rises from the ashes. He's still corny as ever, still kicking those rinky-dink rhymes. Now, he's just rated G instead of PG-13. VIBEOnline: It's good to hear your voice again. Mase: For real? WowÂ… VO: What have you been up to? Mase: I've been getting rich on the inside; making sure I'm rich on the outside and the inside, you know. It makes no sense just to be rich on the outside. VO: What brought you back to us? Mase: Well, I figured that diamonds shine better on a black T-shirt. (laughing) VO: For the five years that you've been away from the music industry. Have you completely abandoned the studio? Mase: I really strictly took a break from hip hop only to return after five years. VO: Tell me about your involvement with church, religion and spirituality. Mase: Well, I actually don't have any religion. Religion sucks. VO: Expand on that oneÂ… Mase: When people talk about religion they think of laws and what you can't do, what you can't wear. I don't have a religion. Religion is garbage. The spirit is free. VO: What made you say, "This is it. I can't do hip hop anymore?" Mase: It wasn't the fact that I couldn't do it any more, it was that I didn't want to do it. I thought about the person I was becoming in music I was becoming just like everybody else-from not really respecting ladies, to talking to people any kind of way and doing any kind of thing. When you're a person that knows you're made of substance, you want to be known for substance. VO: Do you feel like you're giving more now that you've returned? Mase: Well actually, I have more to offer now. I was just a young boy with a mic in his hand. VO: How do you balance music and your ministry right now? Mase: It's not a hard balance because they coincide. Music is just a bridge for me to do my ministry. VO: So you never feel like you have to compromise your faith to be successful in this industry? Mase: No, I wouldn't. Why would I? Music is not the most important thing to me, faith is. Because I do good music, people want to know what I have to say. But I don't preach to them, I don't force my faith on them. I just make good music and after they see the success of the things that I do, they'll want to know why I'm experiencing so much success and not doing all of the things that everybody else is doing. You don't have to preach to people after that. It speaks for itself. So I really just came to make good music like I did before, just from a slightly different perspective. VO: So how has your content changed. Mase: Take 'Mo Money, Mo Problems,' I would say, 'Mase, the same old gent,' instead of 'pimp.' So it's not really that different. You're just not using the negative connotations: the niggas, the freaks, and the hoes. VO: Do you think people are expecting this spiritual, righteous rap? Mase: No, I don't think people want to hear that. (laughing) I don't want to hear Al Sharpton over a Neptune beat. VO: Have you had any opposition from anyone about coming back? Mase: There's all type of opposition. People say, 'Why don't you go out there and preach?' But why do that? That's stupid. Nobody's listening to what you're saying; they're watching how you live. Right? I could do five songs: "Jesus Walks", "Jesus Breathes," and "Jesus Sings" and come back with the remix, "Jesus Cried" and the single, "Jesus Lives" and then you see me in the strip club. What does that mean? That's why it don't make no sense to preach to people. Just live and they get it from your lifestyle. They'll say, 'Wow, this dude Mase has really changed 'cause I would be tearin that shorty up right there. He don't have the girls naked in the video and it's still hot.' VO: So you're confident that you're going to be able to make some kind of change in our hip hop culture? Mase: I've already done it. Like the thugs smile now when they see my video. When these ten covers hit and I'm smiling on the cover, I've already changed the atmosphere. Everybody's been grill facing, with guns on the cover. Then a dude just shows up smiling with bright colors. It's like a breath of fresh air. People love new stuff. It's like when a different color Louis Vutton bag comes out. You can't wait to get that. Nobody wants the brown and gold Louis no more, they want that colorful Louis. I'm like the colorful Louis right now. (Laughing) VO: While you stepped away from the music scene were you listening to what was out there? Were you seeing how the game was changing? Mase: No, I wasn't. I ain't even know who Bow Wow was. Now that I'm back in music, I'm trying to get abreast of who's who. When I see people, I think people think I'm acting funny but I just don't know who they are. I didn't know Chingy and LudakrisÂ… VO: How do you feel about the change? Mase: The game is country now, you know what I'm saying? What happened to New York? I came back like, 'What happened to everybody?' I left in the 'yah mean' season and came back to 'thurrr.' I'm like, 'What happened?' VO: Do you think your church family will go out and get your album? Mase: Everybody's going to buy it. You even got people that's going to buy it to critic it, but they bought it. That's why this is a no brainer. You got regular Mase fans that'll buy it. You got the haters and the churchgoers that's going to buy it, kids that's going to buy it. So you got everybody buying for whatever reason, they're still going to buy it. VO: So you think you're going to surpass the success you've had in the past? Mase: Yeah, that's what's going to happen. VO: So are you a father now or an expectant father? Mase: Â…Well you know grown men don't put their business in the streets. VO: Yeah but that's something to be proud ofÂ… Mase: I don't have no pride. (laughs) You like that one? I'm quick on my feet. Like Muhammed Ali. To Read The VIBE Magazine Cover Story, Get This Issue At Your Local Newsstand Now! Click Here! To Receive a Full Year of VIBE for $11.95! To view the video for "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" click here To listen to "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" click here To listen to "Welcome Back" click here To watch the video for "Welcome Back" click here To hear Mase's HOT 97 interview when Jim Jones and Cam'ron called to confront him click here To listen to Mase on the "Lean Back" remix click here To discuss Mase on the VIBE.com message boards click here To listen to sample tracks from Mase's Welcome Back click here

Article tags: VIBE.com, Interview, Welcome, Back, Ma$e 

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