Ma$e: Harlem World

Harlem World is the multi-platinum solo debut of Harlem's rapper Ma$e. Ma$e started his career in Children of the Corn alongside Big L, Killa Cam, and Bloodshed as Murder Mase, but the group eventually broke-up after Bloodshed's death, and Ma$e signed with Bad Boy Records. This is where he released Harlem World in 1997.

1.) Puff's Intro

It's actually a pretty sweet intro. The beat has like this "Shaft" feel, actually more like a "Super Fly" vibe. It intensifies as it continues building the intro up and making it more suspenseful. Puffy gives the introduction to the album, and explains the listener is about to enter Ma$e's world, the Harlem World. A really good intro.

2.) Do You Wanna Get $? (ft. Puff Daddy)

The beat is sub-par it seems like the meter is off or something, and there is a squeak that repeats throughout the song, that gets quite annoying as the song progresses. Ma$e lyrics and flow are simple and nothing impressive. Nothing you couldn't find from any "Lil" or "Young" on the radio today. The chorus is the strongest part to the song and it's nothing spectacular. An average song at best.

3.) Take What's Yours? (ft. DMX)

A "gangsta" song in which Ma$e telling everyone he's not one to mess with. Even if you are not into rapper's talking about guns, and acting like thugs Ma$e does a nice job doing so again with some very strong lyrics. "Word from the wise, niggas jerk pies, we hurt them guys Bust lead, to skin they head and leave them circumcised So how you wanna settle this? Rappin' or on some ghetto shit We can do it yo way, with mics or with metal shit"One of my favorite songs despite the overdone premise for a song, Ma$e's lyrics are on point. And when you make a track telling people not to mess with you, who else but DMX do you want telling them so in the chorus. DMX sings in his raspy voice, but it fits the song perfect and is well done. The beat is simple with laced with several pauses; a solid beat nothing fancy, but good for rapping over. A good track.

4.) Mad Rapper (Interlude)

A stupid interlude, where they have a mock TV Show and talk to his producer. It's pretty lame.

5.) Will They Die For You? (ft. Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim)

Song about how far your "boys" will go for you, how loyal they really are. Puff Daddy opens the track with a weak verse talking about his money, even though he didn't write the lyrics are poor and his delivery are poorer. Ma$e has a strong verse on this track. One of my favorite verses he spits in the whole album, good lyrics and some multi-syllable rhymes, make for a good verse. "Make my own chips, I copped my own 6/I knock my own shit, like I'm on my own dick." The third verse from Lil' Kim is pretty solid with some nasty lyrics like: "I'm the same bitch all ya'll wanna try ya'll luck with/Lil' Kim spreads like syphilis/You think I'm pussy?/ I dare you to stick your dick in this." Haha. Any alright nothing beat, has a little funk feel to it, but a little to repetitive. A decent track minus the Puffy verse. The chorus is weak, and shows why Ma$e is better off having someone else sing the hook on his songs.

6.) Lookin' At Me (ft. Puff Daddy)

Catchy hook, and nice beat definitely makes the song an easy listen. The beat is actually by Pharrell so there's no surprise it's very easy to get stuck in your head, but it's definitely a recycled beat (Probably of Puffy's influence), but I'm not exactly sure the source. Ma$e uses his ultra slow flow in this song. He raps about "haters" looking at him in a club, because he's got money, power, and beautiful girls. As cliche as it sounds, it's a pretty decent track, you have to consider how Ma$e deals with the criticism considering he went from Murder Mase to Ma$e (w/ the dollar sign). One line says it all to me, "I was Murder/P. Diddy made me pretty/Did it for the money, now can you get with me." Clever line explaining how can you hate on him for clocking loot. Ma$e has strong displays of lyrical talent in this song:"And if it's not a problem you can meet me at 10I'll be in room 112 and bring four friendsAnd if you gon' hit me, it gotta be a quickieAnd please no hickies, cause wifey's with me"One of the best tracks on the album.

7.) White Girl (Interlude)

Surprise another stupid interlude about putting Ma$e on the phone with two girls. Terrible, except in the background you can hear "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems".

8.) Love U So (ft. Billy Lawrence)

The beat just doesn't fit Ma$e's style of rapping. The chorus is a total rip and the voice of Billy Lawrence is somewhat annoying. Lyrics are sound, but not solid enough to make up for the songs many other weak spots. A weak track.

9.) The Player Way (ft. Eightball & MJG)

Eightball has the first verse and comes strong on the track, MJG follows doing the chorus and does a nice job. Ma$e's verse is alright, but is followed by another better Eightball verse. Eightball and MJG come stronger than Ma$e on this track, which makes sense seeing the topic of the song. The beat is alright, has a nice feel that fits the rest of the album.

10.) Hater (Interlude)

An interlude about Ma$e not coming back to the hood once he got with P. Diddy. Could have gone without.

11.) Niggaz Wanna Act (ft. Busta Rhymes)

Another "gangsta" song about "niggaz" coming after Ma$e and how he's prepared to deal with them. He opens with a weak verse, nothing strong lyrically, but lacks a strong flow too. Granted the beat is a hard one to handle. Second verse from Ma$e is a tight one, where he multi-syllable rhymes for the most part and has some quality lines like: "Shock niggas who thought I was a pop nigga/You go against Ma$e you get your wig rocked nigga." Third verse is strong, but nothing amazing. You start to hear Busta Rhymes in the background as the verse begins. As it ends you hear Busta doing the chorus of the song that Ma$e was doing previously and Ma$e finishes up the song with shout outs. An average song with an average beat and average production. Busta should have been used more in this song, like when you see featured you expect him to spit a verse, but he doesn't. The song doesn't meet the expectations.

12.) Feel So Good

If you aren't familiar with the album Harlem World, this is one of the two singles you are more than likely already familiar with. Song has nice production, when it starts you immediately recognize it from the introduction of the song. Catchy hook "Bad, bad, bad, bad boy/ You make me feel so good." The lyrics are pretty solid with clever responses to criticism of Puffy and his producing techniques : "Do Ma$e got the ladies?/Do Puff drive Mercedes?/Take hits from the '80's?/But don't it sound crazy?".This is one of those songs that is the epitome of Bad Boy Records. A solid song that could be played daily, and not get real repetitive.

13.) What You Want (ft. Total)

The other of the two singles from Harlem World that most hip hop listeners are already familiar with. Another very good beat with solid production. An easy beat to rap over, and Ma$e does a nice job riding th beat with another display of his slow flow. Another strong hook just like Feel So Good, which makes sense as to why both these songs were hits, solid hooks = solid fan base. The premise is about Ma$e spoiling his girl with ridiculous gifts just to make her happy. Decent lyrics with lines like "I wanna do my thing so we be established/And I don't want you rockin' in them fabrics/Girl, I will give you karats 'til you feel you a rabbit." A good example in this song how Ma$e makes words rhyme by slightly altering pronunciations, a style he uses frequently. Another strong song.

14.) Phone Conversation (Interlude)

Wow, another pointless interlude, where I can barely understand Ma$e. It's supposed to show he's a player. Weak, but again you here another Biggie track in the background. Does someone have a crush on Biggie?

15.) Cheat on You (ft. Jay-Z & Lil' Cease)

Sample "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" a pretty nice beat, another song showing strong production. 112 sings the chorus, and harmonize well. The song is about why a girl would cheat on any of them. Ma$e has the first verse, and does a decent job. Lil' Cease is up next, and spits a pretty weak verse as expected, it flows well, but that's it. Next on the mic is Jay-Z who spits a decent Jay verse not one of his best, his flow tends to be a little choppy. A decent song overall, but average at best.

16.) 24 Hrs. to Live (ft. Black Rob &DMX & LOX)

Puff intro's the track and Ma$e spits the first verse. The song is pretty self-explanatory, what they would do with 24 hours to live. Ma$e is verse isn't that strong one you might expect from the current Ma$e. Jadakiss is next, and spits a pretty funny "fuck it" attitude verse. "Yo, yo if I had 24 hrs. to kick the bucket, fuck it/I'd probably eat some fried chicken and drink a Nantuckett." Black Rob is next, and raps a solid verse. It's nice because all three verses flow into one another without any interruption. The chorus comes through, then Sheek is up followed by Styles, Styles spits the better verse of the two with much stronger lyrics. DMX is the last to spit, and quite frankly raps an average verse. No rapper distinguishes himself on this track by spitting a far better verse than any of the others; however, this is a good track, it's always fun to have 6 different MC's spit on a track, plus Diddy and 112.

17.) I Need to Be (ft. Monifah)

The opening is funny about Ma$e's boy messing with an underage girl. The chorus by Monifah is solid, she has a good sound for the beat. Ma$e uses his extra slow flow on this track, an understatement to call it lazy. His flow is so slow and monotonous it makes the song unbearable. Easily the second worst song on the album.

18.) Watch Your Back (Interlude)

Stupid, some guy calling to warn Ma$e he's tired of him giving his girl his number and if he doesn't stop, he'll have to deal with him.

19.) Wanna Hurt Mase?

A nice beat, seems a little overdone at certain points but Ma$e does a nice job with it. The chorus is stupid and it's similar to when 50 Cent tries to sing a hook. But the verses are pretty strong. A good track, if you like the "Cookie Monster singing", naw but a good track, just not the best listen, a little choppy.

20.) Jealous Guy (ft. 112)

The song opens up and you think that Ma$e is now part of Boyz II Men, it's seems like one of their songs without a doubt. The beat fits their style perfectly. It's a good beat and has nice production. 112 sings the chorus and it sounds okay, but then Ma$e sings his verse, hilarious, haha. It's gotta be a joke, worse than Ja Rule singing. Then Diddy sings and it doesn't sound like Diddy at all, surprisingly sounds worse than Ma$e. Reminds me of Keith from American Idol, if you don't know youtube it. Ma$e sings again and does slightly better, but is still terrible. Without a doubt the worse track on the album. A must listen though if you love a good laugh, and appreciate rappers failing at trying to sing R&B.

Alright, Ma$e's Harlem World is a solid album. After listening to it you definitely get the idea that Ma$e is a talented rapper. Definitely has the Bad Boy feel all over the album. One weak spot is the themes of his music do get repetitive and that's one of the worst parts. But the album is definitely worth a listen for anyone who has never heard it. It has many catchy hooks and some good lyrics, solid production throughout the album, by a credited list of like 20 producers with P. Diddy's name "topping" them. It's honestly worth a listen for anybody who thinks Ma$e is a garbage rapper.

Overall 7.5/10 . . .

* Any credit given to production, is given in this regard: Bad Boy's production style is designed to move units and if you listen to the album you'll know the only thing important to Ma$e and Diddy is making money. So in that regard the production was quite efficient and well done. It's a commercial success going Multi-Platinum.