Mase
Welcome Back
(Bad Boy Records)
In case you're wondering, we're welcoming Mase back because he took five years off to work for God (not P.Diddy, but the genuine big man upstairs).
Apparently, Mase found the Lord after seeing a vision of himself leading people to hell. The epiphany prompted him to give up his craft to work with inner-city youths and speak on the church circuit.
But it seems Pastor Mason Betha missed the booty and the bling. Enjoying his re-anointment as Diddy's favourite sidekick, Mase has swapped sermons for a smooth lyrical flow. And he can't stop telling everyone how satisfying it feels to make songs that aren't about guns, drugs, murder or sex. What he can't stop rapping about, however, is the money.
The critics are having a field day, and the more mature hip-hop fans just think he's gone soft and giddy.
What's notably missing in this self-styled reincarnation is, well, a miracle. With easy melodies and laid-back beats, this album is likeable and non-offensive (he's neither rudely cursing nor confessional). But it's also standard pop hip-hop that lacks any real vision or purpose: where's the gospel-like passion or the philosophical machinations?
Fans of the Bad Boy label and young Christians might enjoy the ride. However, most listeners will simply shudder at Mase's reworking of the theme to 1970s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, and My Harlem Lullaby, a sickly reworking of Madonna's La Isla Bonita.