From rap buzz to bust
Mase
Dramatic backstories can do wonders for a pop career - particularly in the woolly world of hip hop. But the plot lines that launched two of the year's most talked-about CDs - from rappers Shyne and Mase - haven't paid off.
Shyne captured the music world's spotlight in August when he managed to release his new album, "Godfather Buried Alive," while serving a 10-year stint at a maximum-security prison.
He got extra ink by blaming his predicament on his mentor, Sean Combs - who stood trial in the same shooting incident that sent Shyne up the river.
No doubt the chatter helped Shyne's album open at No. 2. But it quickly lost its luster. This week, "Godfather" gets whacked from Billboard's Top 200 list after less than two months, with sales barely cracking 400,000.
Shyne's self-titled debut in 2000 moved 928,000 copies.
So what went wrong?
For one thing, radio play didn't back the buzz. Neither of Shyne's singles, "More or Less" or "Jimmy Choo," got above the mid-50s on the R&B/hip-hop charts. They did zilch on pop.
Theoretically, a street star like Shyne could have done pretty well without heavy radio play. But he wasn't "available" to do much promotion - and his ability to do press was curtailed once prison officials got wind of how much time he was spending on the phone.
A deeper problem had to do with when the album was recorded. Shyne cut nearly all his raps before he began his prison stretch three years ago. In hip hop, it's so important to be up to date, and many rappers change their rhymes just days before a CD hits stores. In this case, Shyne's CD seemed past its sell-by date before it even arrived.
Mase mustered just as much chatter for "Welcome Back," his first CD since ditching rap to become a preacher. But after 10 weeks, the CD is languishing at No. 107, with sales of 452,262.
Unlike Shyne, Mase can't claim a radio shutout. His singles "Welcome Back" and "Breathe Stretch Shake" both went Top 20 on the hip hop/R&B chart. "Breathe" even got to No. 30 on the mass-market Hot 100 song list.
But Mase faced a credibility problem with the serious hip-hop fans who'd be most likely to buy his CD. Many listeners questioned the motivation behind his comeback. So did several other rappers, including ex-friends Cam'Ron and Jim Jones, who went so far as to threaten him during a radio interview.
It's also important to note that Mase lost a lot of his audience before he hung up his mike for the ministry. The rapper hasn't seen superstar days since 1997, when his "Harlem World" sold 3.2 million copies. His last album, 1999's "Double Up," sold 423,000 copies.
And even the most compelling back-story can't make up for seeming to be behind the times.
Mase
Dramatic backstories can do wonders for a pop career - particularly in the woolly world of hip hop. But the plot lines that launched two of the year's most talked-about CDs - from rappers Shyne and Mase - haven't paid off.
Shyne captured the music world's spotlight in August when he managed to release his new album, "Godfather Buried Alive," while serving a 10-year stint at a maximum-security prison.
He got extra ink by blaming his predicament on his mentor, Sean Combs - who stood trial in the same shooting incident that sent Shyne up the river.
No doubt the chatter helped Shyne's album open at No. 2. But it quickly lost its luster. This week, "Godfather" gets whacked from Billboard's Top 200 list after less than two months, with sales barely cracking 400,000.
Shyne's self-titled debut in 2000 moved 928,000 copies.
So what went wrong?
For one thing, radio play didn't back the buzz. Neither of Shyne's singles, "More or Less" or "Jimmy Choo," got above the mid-50s on the R&B/hip-hop charts. They did zilch on pop.
Theoretically, a street star like Shyne could have done pretty well without heavy radio play. But he wasn't "available" to do much promotion - and his ability to do press was curtailed once prison officials got wind of how much time he was spending on the phone.
A deeper problem had to do with when the album was recorded. Shyne cut nearly all his raps before he began his prison stretch three years ago. In hip hop, it's so important to be up to date, and many rappers change their rhymes just days before a CD hits stores. In this case, Shyne's CD seemed past its sell-by date before it even arrived.
Mase mustered just as much chatter for "Welcome Back," his first CD since ditching rap to become a preacher. But after 10 weeks, the CD is languishing at No. 107, with sales of 452,262.
Unlike Shyne, Mase can't claim a radio shutout. His singles "Welcome Back" and "Breathe Stretch Shake" both went Top 20 on the hip hop/R&B chart. "Breathe" even got to No. 30 on the mass-market Hot 100 song list.
But Mase faced a credibility problem with the serious hip-hop fans who'd be most likely to buy his CD. Many listeners questioned the motivation behind his comeback. So did several other rappers, including ex-friends Cam'Ron and Jim Jones, who went so far as to threaten him during a radio interview.
It's also important to note that Mase lost a lot of his audience before he hung up his mike for the ministry. The rapper hasn't seen superstar days since 1997, when his "Harlem World" sold 3.2 million copies. His last album, 1999's "Double Up," sold 423,000 copies.
And even the most compelling back-story can't make up for seeming to be behind the times.