Re:Mase Gets With Kayne, Eminem_And Might Tour With Usher
Mase Gets With Kanye, Eminem — And Might Tour With Usher
"I think a lot of people wanted to hear me and Eminem together." — Mase
Another one of Kanye West's dreams has come true: He's gotten a chance to work with his favorite rapper of all time, Mase. The two have collaborated on a remix of West's "Jesus Walks" and may be touring together this summer.
"Wow! Don't nothing get past MTV! You guys are good, huh?" Mase said last week when questioned about joining Kanye on Usher's "Truth" outing. "It was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess people can't hold water. I was gonna come out on Kanye's set as a part of my promo tour and show up and surprise the crowd.
"That's [the plan] right now. When I do the thing with Kanye — I don't know if they really ready for it, but we gonna find out."
While Mase's presence on certain parts of the tour is not yet set in stone, the "Jesus Walks" remix should be coming out soon. "I took a different approach than what Kanye talked about," Mase said. "Kanye touched on how radio does certain things; I began to talk about how the labels and artists do certain things. I said something to the effect that, 'It ain't about who's hot no more/ Or beats that knock no more/ So who cares who flops no more?' "
Last week, word got out of another remix: This time, Mase is performing on a reworking of "Lean Back" with the Terror Squad and Eminem (see "Eminem, Mase Pitch In To Make 'Lean Back' Even Hotter"). The track was produced by Lil Jon.
"Mase was one of my choices off the top," said Terror Squad leader Fat Joe. "I always had major, major love for Mase. He came back to the game, so I was like 'Mase! Come on!' "
"It was an incredible record already," Mase said. "I think a lot of people wanted to hear me and Eminem for a long time together. We were supposed to do something a long time back, but I guess when he was coming in [the game], I was going out. I guess we really missed each other. But when [Em] heard me on the beginning of it, it kinda got him hyped up for doing his verse."
Besides the TS and West, Mase said he might also be doing tracks for Mariah Carey and Faith Evans.
Mase does have records of his own to boast about as well. Two songs from his forthcoming album, Welcome Back (due August 24), were featured on the mixtape Ahead of the Competition (see "Mixtape Monday: Mase Cuts Hit The Street, Fabolous Returns, Just Blaze Remixes Jay-Z"), and the next single from the LP is called "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" and features P. Diddy in a familiar role of hyper hype man.
"This is what I sound like after five years," Mase says at the beginning of the song, before relaying that his lavish lifestyle is just as plush as ever. "I think I'm born to win/ Me broke? That's an oxymoron/ Forget a bus, I bought a drop [drop-top convertible] to tour on/ G-4 [jet] is what I soar on/ You think I ain't hot? You're so wrong."
"It's an incredible party song," Mase said of his tune. "When you hear it, it's like an energy song. This is gonna be phenomenal in the clubs. When they go back to school, this is what they gonna be playing. [Diddy's] ad-libbing, he's doing what he does exceptionally well. He's not on another song on the album. This right here is Mase. It's a Mase album."
For a full-length feature on Mase, check out "Mase: The Second Coming."
—Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Chris Steible and Curtis Waller
For more on Mase, Kanye West and Eminem, check out the MTV News Archive