Masta Ace HHV Records 11 Items

The early 90s in New York

If you say New York hip hop in the ‘90s, you have to say Masta Ace. Born in 1966, the underground MC is one of the hip hop lyric legends like Rakim, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Kool G Rap. His music career began while he was studying marketing at the University of Rhode Island. In December 1986, he won a rap contest in Queens and as a reward was allowed into the studio with Marley Marl. The latter then takes him in his rap combo Juice Crew, where he debuted between MC Shan, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Roxanne Shanté, Tragedy Khadafi and Craig G on the Juice Crew posse cut The Symphony. Marley Marl’s album In Control featured the two ace tracks Keep Your Eyes On The Prize and Simon Says. He graduated and released the songs Together and Letter To The Better in 1989. In 1990, his first solo album Take A Look Around was released on Marl’s label Cold Chillin’, which turned out to be a financial debacle despite good reviews.

Time for change

Masta Ace’s second album Shelf Life, which was ready after its first release, was presented to the public only in 2013 in a limited pressing. He parted ways with Cold Chillin’ in 1993 and signed with Delicious Vinyl. His newly formed Master-Ace-Incorporated crew of Eyce, Leschea, Reginald Ellis, Uneek, Lord Digga and Paula Perry, put out the album Slaughter House, which was stylistically based on West Coast synth beats and caused ambivalent reactions on the East Coast. Two years later, the album Sittin’ on Chrome was released with the hit single Born to Roll in which Masta Ace Incorporated sampled a bassline by Kraftwerk. DJ Dister named a party series in Berlin after the track, to which Ace responded with the track Ain’t no thing on his album Roll with dis. In the second half of the 1990s he did not release an album, concentrating instead on producer jobs for other artists, which he did under the pseudonym Ase One. Then in 2000, he put out another track with then-newcomer Eminem and J-Black. On the 2001 themed album Disposable Arts, Masta Ace tells the story of an ex-con who goes to a hip hop school called the Institute of Disposable Arts to build a legal existence. It also features some responses to verbal side-swipes from his fellow rappers The High & Mighty and Boogieman. In 2004, with A Long Hot Summer, he releases a sequel to his last album, which becomes one of his classics. It depicted the “Long Hot Summer” that led to the imprisonment of his character at the beginning of the Disposable Arts album. Shortly after the release of the record, he announces to end his career as Masta Ace, but revises this with a tour in 2006. It was not until many years later that he reappeared on the rap surface with the album MA Doom: Son of Yvonne, released in 2012 and produced entirely by MF Doom. In an interview, he explained that the album helped him convey the things he couldn’t say to his mother before she died. In late 2014, it was announced that Masta Ace was signed to M3 Records/Penalty Entertainment and would release his sixth solo album, The Falling Season, in 2016.

The incognito hero Masta Ace

He remains one of the real New York MCs who convince with their quality and honest way. Eminem mentions Masta Ace as one of his influences in his book The Way I Am, saying “Masta Ace had amazing storytelling skills – his thoughts were so vivid” He mentions him again in Lucky You with the line “We need three stacks ASAP, and bring Masta Ace back”. Allmusic describes him as “a truly underrated rap veteran and underground luminary.” Rolling Stone comments that despite his prowess, Masta Ace is sometimes overlooked: “Even the most ardent fan of raw hip-hop lyricism sometimes forgets to mention Masta Ace alongside hard-nosed champions like Rakim, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Kool G Rap.”