Songoftheday 2/23/21 - Now Mase be the man wanna see you doing good, I don't wanna get rich, leave you in the hood...

 

 

"What You Want" - Mase featuring Total

from the album Harlem World (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 20

 

Today's song of the day comes from rapper Mase, whose debut single as a lead artist, "Feel So Good", reached the top five on the American pop chart at the end of 1997. Mason Betha's follow-up single was "What You Want". Featuring female R&B vocal group Total on the chorus hook, the song was written by Mase with mentor Sean Combs, Keisha Spivey, and producer Nashiem Myrick, and was laid on a foundation of Curtis Mayfield's 1973 soul nugget "Right On For The Darkness", which give is the lowkey minor-key funky guitar goodness. As for the lyrics, Mase spends his time trying to impress a girl on what he can give her more than what he would make her feel, but hey, it's the late 90s...

"What You Want" became Mase's second top ten pop hit in March of 1998. The song ended up being his best showing at urban radio, spending three weeks at #3 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart. Internationally, the song reached the top-40 in New Zealand (#5), Canada (#12), the UK (#15), and Germany (#35). 

(5/10)

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Here's Mase live in concert at the NBA All Star Weekend in 1998.

Next up Mase and fellow rapper Lil Cease at the Apollo...

and finally, at the Bad Boy reunion show in 2016 doing "Feels So Good" and "What You Want"...

 

 

Up tomorrow: Former Fugee is only found in the fall.