Welcome Back (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Welcome Back
Type = studio
Artist = Mase


Released = August 24, 2004 (US)
Recorded =
Genre = Hip hop
Length = 49:30
Label = Bad Boy Records
Producer = The Movement, Rick Rock, Tyrice Jones, Chad Hamilton, Brass 'n Blues |Reviews = * Allmusic rating|3|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:x95a8qmxbtb4 link]
* Music Critic [http://www.music-critic.com/urban/mase_welcomeback.htm link]
* HipHopDX.com rating|2.5|5 [http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/reviews/id.465/title.mase-welcome-back link]
* "Rolling Stone" rating|2|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/mase/albums/album/6399696/review/6477982/welcome_back link]
Last album = "Double Up"
(1999)
This album = "Welcome Back"
(2004)
Next album = "Harlem World Is Back"
(2008)

"Welcome Back" is Mase's third album, released August 24, 2004. The album debuted at #4 on the charts, selling 188,000 copies in the first week, and ended up going gold. Released after a five-year break from the rap scene, the album was a product of Mase's newly developed "Christian" persona. None of the songs contain profanity, explicit lyrics, or inappropriate material that is usually associated with other work in the rap genre, although on some of his songs there are references to violent or sexual acts, but not as much as his past work. The new "clean" approach to rap received mixed reviews.

Even though the album was not a commercial success like Mase's previous albums, the singles, "Welcome Back" and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake", received moderate amount of radio play and video play on BET and MTV, with the latter even reaching #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Welcome Back" samples the theme song from the 1970s television show "Welcome Back Kotter". The music video for the title track is a parody of the intro of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" with Diddy's character, Walter Lee Younger, is the character in A Raisin in the Sun that he played.

Track listing