More on Mase

But what about Welcome Back's lyrics? Mase doesn't hesitate to mention his salvation and lifestyle change. He gives the glory to God and praises modest ladies who can party without shedding their clothes.

According to Focus on the Family's media review site, PluggedIn, "Mase doesn't only avoid sex, drugs, alcohol, profanity and thuggishness on Welcome Back, he preaches against them with spiritual fervor. Yet he remains materialistic to a fault. Ten songs brag about possessions and well-endowed bank accounts."

Relevant Magazine reporter, Won Kim, had a similar impression when he traveled to LA to interview Mase and watch him in action. "There was no sign of the preacher Mase." Kim noted. "He looked as much the hip-hop star he was before he left in '99. What if Mase is offering the same old 'Thank You, Jesus' speech we've all grown accustomed to but without the life to back it up? By all appearances he's the same bad boy he was five years ago, just with cleaner lyrics and more shout outs to God."

But when Won Kim had a heart-to-heart with Mase, his perception quickly changed.

Mase revealed that he has gone "undercover." Playing the part of an iced-up rapper, he described it as "the same way a NARC would dress up and act like a drug dealer-only to bring down the whole cartel."

"People are not realizing that music was just for me to turn the alarm off-to get me in the building," Mase told Relevant Magazine. "Now that I'm in the building, I have the right and the audience to say what God wants me to say. If I would have said that from the beginning they would have shut me down."

Mase continued, "So if I have to wear a hat to get in, a necklace to get in, the bracelet and jewelry to get in, I'm just playin' my role. But once I get in front of 60,000 people each night, and they're letting me headline-I'm offering Christ to 60,000 people in every single state. You know what that is doing for the Kingdom? That's brilliant. It's Jesus. Only God could have thought of something like that."

"God's still working on me," Mase acknowledges. "Puff Daddy needs to see that. Jay-Z needs to see that. Them the guys that need to see the change that happened in Mase, 'cause they know what Mase was like. So to just hide behind the four walls on TBN, World Network, JC TV or all these networks…God's like, 'I haven't called you for that.'"

John Peterson, a youth pastor and one of our readers from New Jersey told us, "I believe that [Mase] can be the 'John the Baptist' of rap, preparing the way for the return of Jesus Christ. We need people like Mase who have the courage to admit their conversion even to the media. It is gonna take people with his kind of influence to reach the numbers God wants reached before Jesus returns."

When asked why he came back, Mase replies, "God wanted the platform and God needed the person. I just happen to be the person that had the platform and the mouth that he could use. He needed a voice to this generation, somebody relevant."

Mase got even more bold when he shared in a recent MTV interview that his dream is to one day preach on MTV.

"My ultimate goal would be for MTV to give an hour or 30 minutes live on a New Year's drop-the-ball thing… That's what this is all about. [Most people] have never seen me in that light. Everybody wants to see, but they don't want to come to church. What better place to do it than MTV? ...I want to do something that hasn't been done…When they seen me, they're gonna say, 'This kid is serious!'"

Many have wondered, "This is great, but what if Mase falls?" Even Mase doesn't consider himself above reproach. "It's not like I'll never fall," he said, "It's just they don't understand that when I mess up, I run to Jesus. I don't run away form Him, I run to Him."

And what if he stands strong?

Now we wait and pray to see what this rapper-turned-preacher will do. But one thing's for sure, whatever Mase does will have a massive impact on this generation.

Mase is definitely legit. I met Mason Betha in August of this year in Philadelphia. One thing that is not mentioned in the article is that him coming back to rap is under the direction of God for ministry. In first album back he didn't want to shock his old fans by just giving sermons over music because that would be a big turn off, because believe it or not the world does not want to hear people preach to them. You have to first gain their trust before they'll let you say anything to them; and that's what Mase has done and is doing with this "Welcome Back" CD. He's regaining trust and reintroducing himself to his old fans, now we will begin to see a stronger Godly message in the music. I guarantee it!

Charles A. Wilmore, Voice Subscriber

© 2004 Teen Mania Ministries