Mase Did Not Become Pastor Because He Wanted To Serve God, Says Fellow Rapper

Mase recently made headlines when he announced a sudden change from pastoring in El Elyon International Church in Atlanta to full time rap, severing ties with the ministry

Rapper turned Pastor, Mase, who made a decision to leave music and begin a ministry in late 1990s was not based on a true calling.

The statement was made by a fellow rapper, Lord Jamar, a member of the hip-hop group Brand Nubian and Five Percent Nation, who added the real reason Mase left was in order to avoid problems in the music industry.

Mase recently made headlines when he announced a sudden change from pastoring in El Elyon International Church in Atlanta to full time rap, severing ties with the ministry.

"I'm not surprised," said Jamar in response to the question of why Ma$e made the sudden change from ministry to music recently. "Did he really seem like he had some sort of revelation and he was really a faithful follower? I've seen him teetering for the longest time."

He also explained why he thinks Mase left music in the first place after gaining much fame and reaching platinum selling status with Diddy's Bad Boy records in the late 1990s.

"He did that to insulate himself and hide from some [problems he had in the streets]," he said. "[The people who were after him] would look pretty bad if they [harmed] a preacher. Now [Mase] feels like the heat is off, he can come back."

Jamar says he believes that the problems Mase once had are no longer a threat and now he feels free to return to the rap world. He also regained his right to make music outside of his former label Bad Boy Records in 2009. That might also be a factor in his recent return.