Mase

At 48 years old, Mase has this physical status:

Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his mononym Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper, singer, and minister.

He is best known for his late 1990s appearance on Bad Boy Records with Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Mase has had six Billboard Top 10 singles and five American Rap No. 1 from 1996 to 1999 as a lead or featured artist. There are 1 singles in the country.

The Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded Harlem World a Grammy nominated and certified quadruple Platinum.

Double Up and Welcome Back, his two other albums, are both certified Double platinum and Gold by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Early life

Mason Durell Betha, a fraternal twin who was born almost two months premature to P. K. Betha and Mason Betha, was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He grew up with two brothers and three sisters, including his twin sister, Stason, who was born a few minutes after him. Mase was only three years old when his father left the family. In 1980, his mother and her children moved to Harlem, New York, where Mase spent the majority of his childhood. Betha began getting into trouble on Harlem's streets, and when he was 13 years old, his mother brought him back to Jacksonville to live with relatives. Betha first began attending church when living in Jacksonville. Betha began promising as a basketball player after returning to Harlem at the age of 15, becoming the top point guard for his team at Manhattan Center High School during the 1993 season, where he competed alongside Cameron Giles, who went on to be known as the rapper Cam'ron. He had aspired to join the National Basketball Association (NBA), but he was unable to make it into a Division I college due to his weak academic records. He attended Purchase University of New York, where he realized he was unlikely to make the NBA but began focusing more on writing music, making demo tapes, and performing at local nightclubs. Betha moved away from college and concentrated on his music career full time.

Source

Career

Since Betha returned to Harlem, he and his childhood friend Cam'ron began rapping as a hobby under the name Murda Mase and Killa Cam (the Latin word for "corner") with fellow Harlem rappers Big L, Herb McGruff, and Bloodshed. Damon Dash, a fellow Manhattan Center undergraduate, served as the group's boss for a short time. Stason, Mase's brother, introduced him to Cudda Love, a road manager for The Notorious B.I.G. Cudda beat Mase at Atlanta, Georgia, where Jermaine Dupri and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs were attending a rap concert. Mase signed a $250,000 contract with Bad Boy Records just shy of meeting and rapping for Puff Daddy at the Hard Rock Café. Betha had his stage name changed from Murda Mase to simply Mase to make him more marketable, and was featured on and in the Notorious B.I.G's "Only You" video for 112's "Only You" within a week of being signed to the brand. He appeared on several hit songs with other Bad Boy artists, including Puff Daddy's "Can't Keep Me Down" and "Been Around the World" and the Notorious B.I.G. The film "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" has risen to No. 1 in the nation's No. 1st. Billboard Hot 100 #1 is ranked No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Harlem World, Mase's first studio album, debuted at No. 1 in the United States. During the first week of release, Billboard Pop and R&B LP charts sold over 270,000 copies in the United States. It has since been granted Platinum status in the United States. "Feel So Good" and "Looking at Me" were two hit singles from the album, which all reached No. 1. "What You Want" reached No. 1 on the Rap Billboard charts, as well as "What You Want," which peaked at No. 1. Both the Rap and R&B Billboard charts rank No. 3 on the Rap and R&B Billboard charts. Mase appeared on more albums 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" during 1997.

Mase founded All Out Records in 1998, a singer with his own record company. He registered his company Harlem World, which also included his twin sister, Stason, on the label, although they were not under So So Def Recordings. On Blackstreet & M's album "Take Me There," he and Harlem World member Blinky Blinky Blink were featured, as well as the soundtrack to The Rugrats Movie.

Double Up, Mase's second album, was released on Bad Boy in 1999 and sold 107,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 5 on Sunday. On the US Top 200 chart, 11 is at number 11. In Double Up Mase's lyrics, the lyrics became more violent.

Mase resigned from music to pursue a "calling from God" during an interview with Funkmaster Flex on New York radio station Hot 97 on April 20, 1999. He said he was "leading people, children, and others down a path to hell," adding that he would seek God in his heart and follow him. He said it was time for him to serve God in "his" way, saying that rap was not real and that he needed to deal with reality and had become dissatisfied with what he did, regardless of how much money it had earned him. Mase began attending Clark Atlanta University, a historically black college, in the same year, and began attending classes on August 19. Mase was allowed to live off campus and commute, but he is said to have downplayed his time as a rapper and stayed relatively low-key when on campus.

Mase returned to music in summer 2004 after a five-year absence from music, during which he was an ordained minister. On August 24, 2004, Welcome Back was followed by a single of the same name, and Universal Music Group was released on August 24, 2004. It debuted at No. 2 on the charts. In the United States, there are four in the United States, selling 188,000 copies in the first week of introduction, and then went gold, with 559,000 copies being sold in the United States. Mase's latest Christian life and "cleaner" appearance were depicted on the album. On the lead single, Mase dubbed himself "a Bad Boy gone clean" (which samples the Welcome Back Kotter theme song). This latest attempt received a mixed reception. Despite the fact that the album was not as strong a commercial success as Harlem World, BET and MTV's "Welcome Back" and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" received modest radio airplay and video competition on BET and MTV, with the former single reaching No. 1 on BET and MTV, with the latter single receiving moderate radio airplay and television coverage. The US Billboard Hot 100 at number 28. Both singles were also rated gold by the Royal Institute of British Agricultural Associations.

Mase spent time on tour and recording with New York hip-hop band G-Unit, and became a mainstay of 50 Cent's public image during that period, including appearances on magazine covers, on stage, and in music videos. He has since stated that working with the company was not something he regrets, but that the note he sent was erroneous. He joined G-Unit to appeal to a different audience, hoping that "in order to get people where I am at," he did, think that "I have to go back to where I was once." He released Crucified 4 The Hood: a compilation of the DJ Whoo Kid series, but no official album was ever released under G-Unit.

Mase has started to appear on R&B artists' remixes based on the formula that worked for him years before. He appeared on "Uptown Boy" by Harry O's last verse, which also stars Ron Browz in early June 2009. Mase appeared on a street remix for Drake's "Best I Ever Had" a week later this week. Michael Jackson's death inspired him to make a comeback, according to Mase. "The Prince of New York" DJ Self appeared on Power 105.1 to address his return to "The Prince of New York" DJ Self. Mase continued to perform new music on the remainder of the summer, with a new song or feature premiere on DJ Self's show every Friday.

On July 10, Mase's first new track, "Get It," was released by Big Ran and also included Cam'ron. On July 17, Ron Browz released "Thinkin' Bout You" on July 17, then followed it up by adding a verse to Teairra Mar's "Diamonds" street remix on July 24. Mase's second solo release since his comeback began on Friday was "Shut the City Down" on the last Friday in July. The album primarily addresses the rapper's legacy and points to the ways in which rap, as a profession, has evolved since his time. He also references to his latest Batman-esque symbol and teases at himself as the hip-hop's superhero. On August 21, Mase unveiled the song "Radio" as a precursor to his forthcoming mixtape "I Bleed Money." Mase was one of Ron Browz's "Gimme 20 Dollars" on the remix on September 11, and she was one of the featured artists. It was the third time since his return to work with Browz, his first meeting with Jim Jones since they fell out years before.

Mase appeared on a live radio interview with Diddy-Dirty Money on V-103 in October 2009. During the interview, he told the studio workers that he got paperwork that would get him rid of the Bad Boy brand and gave the forms to Diddy. "[Mase] has the right to do whatever he wants to do," Diddy wrote on the forms. The formats did not end Mase's contractual obligations to the record label, but rather encouraged him to appear on songs with artists from various labels, which was later revealed.

In 2010, Diddy offered Mase a one-year probation from Bad Boy to resolve all their differences, with whom Mase decided to leave rap for good even though the year had passed. Spiff TV Films, a film company that is best known for Rick Ross' Maybach Music videos, posted a snapshot of Mase, Ross and French Montana, as well as Omarion and Rico Love in the studio on April 17, 2012. Mase returned to music after he announced his retirement to become a pastor in April 1999 and then leaving again in 2007. On radio show, DJ Funkmaster Flex debuted a remix of Wale's "Slight Work" a week after the photo was released.

Mase did not mention rumors about him potentially signing with Warner Bros. imprint Maybach Music, but he more specifically stated that French Montana was the reason Mase was making his third comeback. Mase is featured as an A&R representative on Montana's forthcoming Bad Boy debut, Excuse My French, as well as appearing on Montana's "Everything's a Go" remix. "I'm not sure what kind of decisions he'll make," Montana says. "But] I would love to see him in my camp." Mase appeared on Kanye West's album Cruel Summer in September 2012, on the track "Higher" with The-Dream, Pusha T., and Cocaine 80s.

Mase revealed in December 2012 that he was no longer signed to Bad Boy, and that he would not be able to sign with a major label anytime soon. Kanye West's GOOD Music or Drake's OVO Sound were the only two labels he'd consider signing with, according to MTV. Mase revealed on October 18, 2013, that his new album, Now We Even, would be called. Jay-Z, Diddy, Beyoncé, Drake, 2 Chainz, Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, Ariana Grande, Dipset, Seal, and CeeLo Green have all been on his guest appearances wish list.

Mase unveiled "The Oracle," a dissipation of cam'ron's friend-turned-rival on his reaction to the lyrical jabs Cam'ron fired at him on his mixtape The Program on November 24, 2017. Mase became a member of Deathrow Records in 2022.

Source