Mase

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Mase was born in Jacksonville, Florida, as a fraternal twin born almost two months premature. His father left the family when Mase was three, and in 1980 his mother moved with her children to Harlem, New York. During his early teenage years, Betha began getting into trouble on the streets of Harlem, and when he was 13 his mother sent him back to Jacksonville to live with relatives. It was while living in Jacksonville that Betha first began attending church. After returning to Harlem at age 15, Betha showed promise as a basketball player, becoming the leading point guard for his team at Manhattan Center High School during the 1993 season, where he played alongside Cameron Giles (later known as Cam'ron). He attended State University of New York at Purchase, where he realized he was unlikely to make the NBA and instead began focusing on writing music, producing demo tapes, and regularly performing at local nightclubs. Betha eventually dropped out of college and focused on his music career full-time.

In Their Own Story

After Betha returned to Harlem, he and his childhood friend Cam'ron began rapping under the names Murda Mase and Killa Cam, forming the group Children of the Corn with fellow Harlem rappers Big L, Herb McGruff, Six Figga Digga and Bloodshed. In 1996, Mase's sister Stason introduced him to Cudda Love, a road manager for the Notorious B.I.G. Cudda took Mase to Atlanta, where Jermaine Dupri and Sean Combs were attending a rap convention. After meeting and rapping for Puff Daddy at the Hard Rock Café, Mase signed a $250,000 deal with Bad Boy Records. Within a week, his stage name was shortened from Murda Mase to Mase, and he was featured on 112's "Only You" with the Notorious B.I.G. He appeared on Puff Daddy's "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" and "Been Around the World" and the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. On April 20, 1999, during an interview with Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97, Mase announced his retirement from music to pursue a "calling from God", saying he was "leading people, friends, kids and others down a path to hell." The same year, he enrolled as a freshman at Clark Atlanta University. After a five-year hiatus, he returned with Welcome Back in 2004, which debuted at No. 4 in the US and went gold.

Reader's Guide

Mase's career can be understood in distinct phases. His early work with Bad Boy Records produced the quadruple-platinum debut Harlem World (1997), which spawned hit singles "Feel So Good" (featuring Kelly Price), "What You Want" (featuring Total), and "Lookin' at Me" (featuring Combs). His guest appearances on the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money Mo Problems" and Combs' "Been Around the World" peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. His second album, Double Up (1999), debuted at No. 11 on the US Top 200 chart, selling 107,000 copies in its first week, and featured more aggressive lyrics. That same year, Mase announced his retirement from music to follow God, and enrolled at Clark Atlanta University. He returned in 2004 with Welcome Back, which debuted at No. 4 and sold 188,000 copies in its first week, eventually going gold. The album portrayed his new Christian lifestyle and "cleaner" image, with singles "Welcome Back" and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" (featuring Puff Daddy) both certified gold by the RIAA. In October 2009, Mase appeared on a live radio interview with Diddy-Dirty Money and presented documentation to Diddy that would release him from Bad Boy. In December 2012, Mase announced he was no longer signed to Bad Boy. On November 24, 2017, Mase released "The Oracle", a diss track at Cam'ron. Cam'ron and Mase started their sports talk show, It Is What It Is, on February 27, 2023.

Did You Know?

• Mase was born a fraternal twin, almost two months premature, with his twin sister Stason born a few minutes after him.
• His stage name was originally Murda Mase, shortened to Mase within a week of signing to Bad Boy Records to make him more marketable.
• Mase announced his retirement from music on April 20, 1999, during an interview with Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97, saying he was 'leading people, friends, kids and others down a path to hell.'
• After retiring, Mase enrolled as a freshman at Clark Atlanta University in 1999, downplaying his past as a rapper and staying fairly low-key on campus.
• Mase and Cam'ron started their sports talk show, It Is What It Is, on February 27, 2023.