Ma$e Essentials

In the late ‘90s, this one-time high school basketball prodigy led a mission to take over the pop charts and claim them for Puff Daddy's Bad Boy family. Ma$e's lackadaisical delivery is the mark of confidence. While his peers were obsessed with violent posturing, Ma$e played the fun-loving trickster, too relaxed to get ruffled. He and Puffy created a string of disco-friendly hits equally beloved by pop radio, street corners and wedding DJs. Even after he left hip-hop for the ministry, he remained a legend in New York and counted among his fans and benefactors heavyweights like 50 Cent and Kanye West.