What's the haps ladies and homies?! This salute goes out to an album that was among the most enjoyable debuts of the mid to late nineties. When one of the most popular labels in hip-hop loses its brightest and most amazing star to tragic gun violence as a result of a senseless beef, all eyes were placed on a young Harlem native that lived up to the star appeal placed upon him with plenty of radio-friendly hits to assure him being a household name. He became the sun after an especially dark time in hip-hop, thanks in large part to his debut album, and with that, we salute Ma$e's debut, Harlem World.
Known as being part of the Harlem collective, Children Of The Corn, with emcees Cam'ron, Herb McGruff, Bloodshed, Digga, and Big L, Mason "Mase" Betha was scooped by Bad Boy Entertainment and its CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs (Puff Daddy as he was then known by). After the mindless and overwhelmingly saddening murder of Notorious B.I.G. in March of '97, Combs had to wipe his tears away and get back to putting Bad Boy in first place of the hip-hop world. He needed a new star to carry the torch Biggie left behind, and in came Ma$e. Far from his days as Murda Mase from COTC, he transformed into M-A-dollar sign-E, and we first heard this new jack on the block with Bad Boy's version of Boyz II Men, 112, on the remix to their hit "Only You". From there, the buzz was surrounding this new young cat with the lazy, Harlem drawl and the boyish charm that could make anyone identify him. He later appeared on one of Biggie's biggest hits, "Mo' Money, Mo Problems" from Biggie's final studio album, the classic Life After Death. Mase was picking steam, and after appearing on a few of the more celebrated cuts from Combs' surprisingly stellar debut, No Way Out, it was time for his wings to fly and soar with a debut album.
His debut, Harlem World, was released in the fourth quarter of that year, and it was led by the Kool & The Gang-sampled "Feels So Good", which was radio-centered as anything you would hear from Bad Boy. Complete fluff, but a certified hit. He followed that with another big one, the Total-assisted "What You Want", which officially made people check for this album. With Combs knocking every release from Bad Boy out the park thus far, it wasn't hard to believe this would be no different. The majority of the album is for the most part upbeat, charming, braggadocio, and filled with swag before that even became a term. The debut struck number one with a bullet, selling gold status quickly, and ultimately leveling at three million units. While virtually every cut could get radio play, there were some for the streets as well, such as the adrenaline-fueled "24 Hours To Live" with new Bad Boy members at the time The Lox, Black Rob, and newcomer DMX, "Take What's Yours", which was another DMX-assisted cut, and the Busta Rhymes-collaborated "Niggaz Wanna Act".
As what became expected, production on the album was practically top-notched by The Hitmen collective, primarily Stevie J, Nasheim Myrick, D-Dot, and Chucky Thompson. For the most part, there wasn't a very significant flaw on the album, as this arguably became the epitome of what a Bad Boy album would sound like. The album was nominated for a Grammy of that year for Best Rap Album, but lost to Jay-Z's Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, at the same Grammy Awards show that was DOMINATED by Lauryn Hill. Make no mistake about it, however, that Ma$e was a star and a household name who's star was only going to shine brighter.
Betha released his follow-up two years later, Double Up, and started a group called Harlem World (how convenient) after a falling out with Combs. Although Double Up was a decent album overall, it lacked the charm, fluidity and cohesiveness of his debut. Plus the Harlem World album, The Movement, was enjoyable, yet a commercial failure. Shortly after the release of the album, he got saved and became a born again Christian so "retired" from the rap game to become a preacher in Atlanta. He did a surprising reemergence to rap with his comeback album, Welcome Back, which was free of cuss words, questionable subject matter, and was a positive album. While this was yet another gold plaque for Betha, as Double Up and The Movement were, it was clear that his best was his first and that's just how it was seemingly going to be.
Mase's Harlem World was an album that was among the most clear examples of radio-made hip-hop that made casual fans love him, and backpacking hooligans not be able to stomach him. Whatever your view on Mase at the time was, one can't deny that the album gave some much needed positive notoriety for Bad Boy after Biggie's death and their newest star had been seen and noticed. It was mostly light-hearted and was able to get the girls on the dance floor. It became a Bad Boy staple, and became one of its most notable albums. For that, and Mase's contributions, we say happy twentieth anniversary to Harlem World.
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