Ma$e/Mason Derelle Betha (1975- )

November 10, 2021 
/ Contributed By: Beatrice Johnson

Mason Derelle Betha is an American pastor, author, and former rapper born on August 27, 1975, as a fraternal twin with sister Stason. Better known by his stage name, Ma$e, Betha was born almost two months premature to Mason and P.K. Betha in Jacksonville, Florida. He had two brothers and three sisters: Sabrina, Michael (“Mike”), Anthony (“Ant”), Yolanda, and Stason (“Baby Sta$e.” When he was 5 years old, Betha’s mother moved the family to Harlem, New York, to escape domestic abuse.

During his first of two senior years, Betha played basketball at Manhattan Center High School, helping his team go to the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) finals, only to lose to Brandeis High School. When basketball season was over, Betha, who had missed too many days of school, had to repeat his senior year. He then attended State University of New York at Purchase on a basketball scholarship but quit at the end of his second year of college to pursue a full-time music career.

Betha and friend Cameron Giles started a rap group called Children of the Corn (which is short for Corner). Sean “Diddy” Combs learned of the young rapper, signed him to “Bad Boy Records,” and asked him to do the rap introduction on the single, “Only You,” which led to collaborations on other hits including Combs’ “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” and “It’s All About the Benjamins,” as well as Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money, Mo Problems,” and Mariah Carey’s “Honey.”

In 1998 Mason, now known as Ma$e, released his debut album, Harlem World, which produced three Top 10 singles: “Feel So Good,” “What You Want,” and “Lookin’ at Me.” Harlem World sold 4.8 million copies in the United States. He was then asked to record Nickelodeon’s 1999 song, “Take Me There,” the theme for their Rugrats television show. Betha’s All Out Records label released the single “Ma$e presents Harlem World – The Movement” on March 9, 1999.

Then on April 4, 1999, Betha, on New York’s Hot 97 radio station, suddenly and surprisingly announced his retirement from the music industry to focus his life on God. Betha’s second album, Double Up, was released after he left the hip-hop industry and walked away from a million-dollar contract with Diddy’s Bad Boy record label.

In August 1999, Betha started attending classes at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, studying business and mathematics. He founded a non-denominational movement, S.A.N.E. (Saving a Nation Endangered) Ministries and held services on the campus of Clark Atlanta University. In August 2001, Betha married Twyla McInnis.

Betha published his first book, Revelations: There’s A Light After the Lime, in 2003. He returned to music and released his third studio album, Welcome Back, on August 24, 2004, which debuted at no. 4 on the charts and sold 188,000 copies the first week after its release. The “Welcome Back single, which samples the theme song from the Welcome Back Kottertelevision show, was unusual in the rap genre for being profanity-free. Betha said that he raps of “living la vida without the loca.”

Betha currently pastors Gathering Oasis (GO) Church and El Elyon Church, both in Atlanta, Georgia.

About the Author

Author Profile

Beatrice Johnson is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma born to Reverend Alvan Nathaniel Johnson, Sr. and Verla Odelma Clardy Johnson. She is an alumna of Booker T. Washington High School and the University of Tulsa. In 1995, she started writing for the Oklahoma Eagle newspaper, where her uncle Reverend Ben H. Hill was once the editor. Her love for writing has never stopped. Earning an MBA degree in Business Administration, Johnson is a co-author for the book, Before I Got Here: The Wondrous Things We Hear When We Listen to the Souls of Our Children edited by Blair Underwood. Johnson became an Independent Historian while researching her grandfather, Bishop William Decker Johnson’s history with the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) church. She is currently an actress and freelance writer in Atlanta, Georgia.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Johnson, B. (2021, November 10). Ma$e/Mason Derelle Betha (1975- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/mae-mason-derelle-betha-1975/

Source of the Author's Information:

Mason Derelle Betha with Karen Hunter, Revelations: There’s A Light After the Lime (New York: Atria Books, 2003); Andrew Barber, “That Time in 1999 When Magic Johnson Managed Ma$e,” Vice, May 5, 2017, https://bit.ly/3EZWCNo; Steve Jones, “Welcome prodigal son Mase,” USA Today, August 23, 2004, https://bit.ly/3kjXMLI.

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