De La Soul - Gods of Rap Tour 2019 - Berlin (44 von 49)

Vincent Lamont Mason Jr. (born March 24, 1970) is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, producer and DJ who is one third of the hip hop group

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

. Mason is also known as Maseo, P.A. Pasemaster Mase and Plug Three.

Early life

Mason graduated from Amityville Memorial High School in 1988.

Career

Kelvin Mercer Kelvin Mercer (born August 17, 1969), also known by his stage name Posdnuos and occasionally Pos, is an American rapper and producer from East Massapequa, New York best known for his work as one-third of the hip hop trio De La Soul. Throug ...

("Posdnuos", "Plug One", "Plug Wonder Why", "Mercenary") and

David Jude Jolicoeur David Jude Jolicoeur (born September 21, 1968), also known under the stage name Trugoy the Dove and more recently Dave, is an American rapper, producer, and one third of the hip hop trio De La Soul. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but g ...

("Trugoy the Dove", "Plug Two", "Dave") were already friends when Mason joined the pair to form De La Soul in 1987. The trio came to the attention of Prince Paul, then a member of

Stetsasonic Stetsasonic is an American hip hop band. Formed in 1981 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Stetsasonic was one of the first hip hop acts to perform with a full band and use live instrumentation in their recordings, paving the way for future ...

, with a demo recording of "

Plug Tunin' "Plug Tunin'" is the debut single by the influential hip hop trio De La Soul. A remixed version appeared on their album ''3 Feet High and Rising''. Lyrically, the song is idiosyncratic; ''"Transistors are never more shown with like / When vocal ...

". Paul facilitated a

record deal A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

for Mason and his colleagues with the Tommy Boy label and produced their first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

3 Feet High and Rising ''3 Feet High and Rising'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on March 3, 1989 by Tommy Boy Records. It is the first of three collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and ...

''. Mason's role in De La Soul is primarily that of a DJ, with Mason stating that he is “a b-boy to my heart”, drawing inspiration from life experience and

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

global events. However, Mason has also featured as a vocalist on songs such as "

Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" is a song by American hip hop trio De La Soul, released in May 1991 as the lead single from their second album, '' De La Soul Is Dead'' (1991). It is a party jam about overzealous fans who pursue the group with demo ...

" (from ''

De La Soul Is Dead ''De La Soul Is Dead'' is the second studio album by American hip-hop group De La Soul, released on May 14, 1991. The album was produced by Prince Paul, whose work on ''3 Feet High and Rising'' was highly praised by music critics. The album wa ...

'') and for De La Soul's guest appearance on the

Jungle Brothers Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam), and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip ...

recording, "Doin' Our Own Dang". Mason also recorded the introductory laugh for De La Soul's collaboration with

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, ...

, "

Feel Good Inc. "Feel Good Inc." is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American hip-hop group De La Soul. Released on 9 May 2005 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, ''Demon Days'', the single peaked at 2 in the United King ...

". Mase is a member of the Spitkicker

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

, a group of artistically-minded people who release work by Spitkicker artists and engage in social, community-based

activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

Personal life

Mason is a native of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

but grew up in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

where he met the other members of

. Son of Dorothy Robinson and Vincent Mason. He is the oldest of two siblings. His younger brother is Anthony Mason. Vincent currently lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. Father of four children: Marcus, Tre, Chauncey and Dayo Mason. His son,

Tre Mason Trence Mason (born August 6, 1993) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Auburn and was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. High school career Mason attended Park Vista C ...

, was a running back for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

Aliases

All three members of De La Soul have a variety of known aliases and

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

s used throughout the group's career. The following are the most significant: * P.A. Pasemaster Mase – The first alias used by Mason, "Pasemaster" (or "P.A.") was used as an alternative to "DJ". Though "Mase" is simply a nickname for Mason, Mason noted in an early interview that the name can be an acronym for "Making A Soul Effort". Later, with the release of ''

De La Soul is Dead ''De La Soul Is Dead'' is the second studio album by American hip-hop group De La Soul, released on May 14, 1991. The album was produced by Prince Paul, whose work on ''3 Feet High and Rising'' was highly praised by music critics. The album wa ...

'', the nickname "Maseo" became widely used. * Plug Three – An early concept for ''

'' involved music being transmitted from Mars by three microphone plugs (each one representing a member of the group). Though this idea was abandoned, the titles "Plug One", "Plug Two" and "Plug Three" still became relevant on the album.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Vincent 1970 births African-American male rappers American dance musicians African-American DJs Record producers from New York (state) Grammy Award winners Living people Rappers from Brooklyn Alternative hip hop musicians De La Soul members 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people