Masta Ace article from June 1995:

Make no mistake about it. You may not be able to tell from his music, but Masta Ace is straight out of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, the home to many other rap artists such as M.O.P. However, Masta Ace, together with Lord Digga, Paula Perry, and Leschea, are trying to bring something new to hip-hop. A new feel, a new flavor, a new vibe. Masta Ace Incorporated's second release, Sittin' on Chrome off of Delicious Vinyl, is a 14 song journey with some of the highlights being "Da Answer", "Ain't No Game", and "INC Ride". In the midst of heavy promotional touring in support of this album, Masta Ace took some time to explain:
DJ Toast: I just read the review of your album that they did in VIBE. What do you think about music critics in general?
Masta Ace: It's one person's opinion. The mistake they made in VIBE was that the person who reviewed my album really loved my last two albums, and this album is different. Each album has been different. He loved that the last album so much, that this type of flavor on the new album just threw him off. If they would have had someone review the album who wasn't that familiar with Masta Ace, they would have rated it totally different.
DJ Toast: You did a song with the Cella Dwellas, which isn't a combination that I would have dreamt up. How did that come about?
Masta Ace: I met them through Lord Digga. All throughout the album, they would come down to the studio and play Sega with us. We all hang together, we play Sega and do all that kind of stuff.
DJ Toast: Elaborate on the theme behind the song 'Freestyle?'
Masta Ace: If you're referring to the title and why there is a question mark, it's because right now there is this consensus or this feeling that freestyling means rhyme off the top of your head. I'm from the school of hip-hop where freestyle just meant drop a rhyme and show some skills, whether it was from the top of your head or not, just show some skills. If its a dope rhyme that you wrote, let's hear it. If it's off the top of your head, let's hear it.
DJ Toast: I've been reading reviews, past and present, and it seems that people have a hard time describing your music. Does your music even need a description?
Masta Ace: I don't know if it does. Either it sounds good or it doesn't sound good. The reason that people are having a hard time with it is because it is a combination of many things. This new album is kind of like New York City Brooklyn B-Boy meets car culture. The coming together of those two flavors, which has never been done before. Then I've used the term Brooklyn-Bass music which confuses people further. People are used to hearing the term bass music and thinking of Luke Skywalker, Miami Bass, 125 BPM, and I'm telling them that it's not anything like that. It's thunderous, heavy, mid-tempo tracks that basically have east coast flavor, with a lot of elements that appeal to people all across the country.
DJ Toast: Another term is east coast cruising music.
Masta Ace: It could be considered that. There's not enough cruising going on right now in New York, and I'm hoping that it will change in the next year or so. I'm hoping that we can start to get that flavor in New York a little bit more. I'm trying my best to bring that to New York because I believe that we are missing some stuff. I feel that the summers in New York would be a lot more fun if we brought that flavor to New York a little bit more.
DJ Toast: Were you surprised at how well "Born to Roll" did for you?
Masta Ace: Yeah, I was kind of surprised. I didn't know that people down south would react to it like they did, and jump on it so quickly. But I was very happy to be exposed to a whole new audience of people who didn't know who I was and never even heard of me, and they thought that was my first single.
DJ Toast: Who's idea was it anyway, to do the remix and make it "Born to Roll"?
Masta Ace: It was my idea, and I just went in and did it on my own. I didn't even tell anybody that I was doing it. I just went into the studio on my own and did it. Lord Digga walked in some time later and said 'what's this'.
DJ Toast: The lyrics for "INC Ride" mention Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie. Do you still have a relationship with them?
Masta Ace: It's a distant relationship, but I still thirst for the days when they were on top and they were making it happen. I learned a lot of things from both of them, and I will always be very gracious for when they let me get on stage and freestyle at shows and stuff like that. I really appreciate that. I learned a lot of my stage demeanor and my performance style, I got from Kane and Biz. At the time, they were two of the best performers that were out and they had really dope shows.
DJ Toast: How cool was it to be on a track with Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Kool G Rap, and all of them when you were young and just trying to come out?
Masta Ace: It was dope! I won a rap contest and won some studio time with Marley Marl.
DJ Toast: And he just put you on a posse cut?
Masta Ace: Actually, it was supposed to be a song with MC Shan, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane. On the back of the In Control Volume 1 is a picture of all of us around an airplane. After that photo session, we all left and went to Marley's house, so that Shan and them could do that song. MC Shan didn't want to do the song, he felt that he was playing himself to be on the song with all these new jacks. So he went his own way.
DJ Toast: Another smart career move by MC Shan.
Masta Ace: So he went his way, and we all went to Marley's house. I was just kind of sitting by and just chilling. Kane, Craig, and G Rap were having an argument about who was going to go first. Nobody wanted to go first. So Marley asked me to go first and set this thing off. I had to come with whatever I had at that time. I didn't write anything for that song or nothing, I had to come with whatever I had. At the time I didn't really care for the beat, so it was tough for me to get into it. But after, he hooked it up and I heard the full beat, I realized that it was fat.
DJ Toast: And that's how you hooked up with Cold Chillin'?
Masta Ace: Exactly, Marley brought me along on that album. I had to sign a letter, so they had first rights to me, or whatever. So they decided that they wanted to do an album with me.
DJ Toast: How do you look back on your experience with Cold Chillin'?
Masta Ace: Some things were good, some things weren't.

DJ Toast: I think that the b-side "Go Where I Send Thee" is a great song, very slept on, but a great song.
Masta Ace: I did too. It's when people mention that song, then I know people really have followed Masta Ace and know a little about my history. That's a song that we went in and felt really strong about, and nobody got to hear it.
DJ Toast: You went college at the University of Rhode Island. Did you do anything at their radio station, WRIU?
Masta Ace: Yeah, I used to be up there everyday after class. I didn't actually do the Marley thing until after I graduated from college. I graduated with a degree in Marketing. The same year that I graduated from college, I went and shot that picture with Marley and did the track.
DJ Toast: Did you have a deal with Delicious Vinyl before or after the song with the Brand New Heavies?
Masta Ace: It was after the thing with the Brand New Heavies. They were already kind of looking at me, but that was something that we did to meet everyone and vibe, and we did the track. I was still on Cold Chillin' when I went out and started talking to Delicious Vinyl. Warner Brothers wasn't too happy about me being there, but Cold Chillin wanted me to stay. I didn't feel that staying was the right career move. I didn't feel that I was going to be a priority, they had too many artists that they cared more about. I wanted to be somewhere where they didn't have a whole bunch of people. Delicious Vinyl was the right place to go. So Cold Chillin' allowed me to leave. They could have easily said 'no you're not leaving', but they didn't. But they got money out the deal anyway.
DJ Toast: So how do you go from Masta Ace and that style and sound, to Masta Ace Inc with a whole different style and sound? Was it a transformation, or was it always there?
Masta Ace: Yeah, as an artist you always continuously redefine yourself and you evolve as you go along. You develop new identities and find new flavors. Sometimes you go into the studio and experiment and stumble onto things that feel right to you, and fit you. It's been kind of an evolution from the first record that I've ever made until now. I've evolved and transformed and redefined myself each time. So now we've come to the point Masta Ace Inc. and this new style of music for 1995 that no one else is doing. And I'm really excited about it.
DJ Toast: A change from Take a Look Around to Slaughtahouse, and a change from Slaughtahouse to Sittin' on Chrome.
Masta Ace: A lot of people are upset with me for making drastic changes, but I feel it's always flavor, new flavor. Regardless, it's never wack, that's the key, never wack.
DJ Toast: What do you think about the stuff Lord Digga did for that South Paw records EP?
Masta Ace: It's fat. I produced the one song called "Feel It". That's just a warning sign of what's to come. We're just getting ready to hit people over the head with a Lord Digga album. Our goal is to make hits and sell records, and to be a force to be reckoned with in this industry. That is our mission and that is what we are setting out to do.
DJ Toast: In between your last two albums, you did that Crooklyn track. How did that come about?
Masta Ace: I got a call from Baby Chris, and he said that he was doing a song and wanted to know if I'd like you to participate on it, and I was like 'hell yeah'. I went to the studio and they made it happen. I appreciate them involving me with it, and I let him know that.
DJ Toast: So posse-type cuts have had a major impact on your career, with "The Symphony" and "Crooklyn".
Masta Ace: No doubt.
DJ Toast: Sittin' on Chrome is the first release for Delicious Vinyl through Capitol. As an artist, how do you feel about that new relationship?
Masta Ace: I'm really excited about it, and I hope that it's a good and long term relationship, because Delicious Vinyl has bounced from distributor to distributor in the past couple of years. I hope that this is where we are going to stay for the long term so that we can establish a strong hold and make some things happen. We're all excited, and I think we're gonna make some noise.
DJ Toast: What do you see as the biggest problem with rap music today?
Masta Ace: The biggest problem is that people are not willing to take chances. Everyone wants to sound like everybody else. Maybe I'll be crucified for trying to sound different, but the only way this thing called hip-hop is going to grow and evolve and take on new flavors is if someone like myself is willing to step out, and experiment with sound, come up with some new things, and talk about something besides blunts, guns, and forties. Bring something new to the music. It's easy to copy some of the successful producers, but its much more difficult to do something original. I wish there was only one Premier, one Q-Tip, one Pete Rock, one Dr. Dre, because they are the originals of their sounds, but everyone is trying to copy and sound like them. It's much more difficult to originate a sound than it is to copy an already successful style.
DJ Toast: I'm glad to see that you are still making music.
Masta Ace: It's a miracle and its amazing that I'm still on the scene. All of my comrades have fallen by the wayside, in some way or another. If I'm the lone one out and I have to represent for all of them, then I'll do it, because they did it for me way back when.
(Article written by DJ Toast in June 1995. The article originally appeared in numerous national music magazines.)