Throwback Thursday: "Mo Money Mo Problems" -- Notorious B.I.G. ft. Puff Daddy & Mase

There was a good five year period where I couldn't hang out at a frat party without hearing this song playing. Still a great track, simply for accomplishing the rare feat of being both strong lyrically (...for like 2/3 of it, at least) and a huge mainstream hit.

(And yes, I called him "Puff Daddy." This is a throwback post, after all.)

Throwback Thursday: "Honey [Bad Boy Remix]" -- Mariah Carey ft. Mase, The LOX, & Puff

I've said before that 1997 was Mariah's peak, and this video does nothing to change my mind. '97 MC was like the '06 Kobe Bryant of Pop/R&B singers.

The song itself is nothing groundbreaking; it came at the height of Bad Boy's "shiny suit" days. And Mase, Jada, and Styles P treated their verses like the last day of work before Christmas, doing just the minimum required of them. But I'll tell you this: This looks like one of the more fun videos to be a part of. I'm always a sucker for a clip where everyone's just goofing off and not mean-mugging the camera like they're about to go to war with Liam Neeson in an Eastern European brothel.

Throwback Thursday: "What You Want" -- Mase ft. Total

Yes, youngin', there was once a time when Mase had a hit album (that time was 1997-1998, when Harlem World reigned supreme). And this track was one of the first singles off of that album, a smooth speaker thumper that (a.) highlighted the lighthearted appeal of both Mase and most of the Bad Boy lineup, and (b.) gave Puff an excuse to fill a video with fine women in lingerie.

And you can't be mad at that.

Throwback Thursday: "24 Hours to Live" -- Mase ft. The LOX, Black Rob, & DMX

It's not often you get a large, six-emcee-collab track; it's even rarer that the subject matter of the track is something very topical and thought-provoking. Rarest, though, is the six-emcee-collab, thought-provoking track that gets turned into a cinematic music video. For all of the criticism Bad Boy took in the late nineties/early aughts, they hit a home run with this one.

Thursday Throwback: "Only You [Remix]" -- 112 ft. Notorious B.I.G. and Mase

This track still bangs, and it marked the debut of a young Mr. Betha in the then-burgeoning world of mainstream hip-hop.