desertDJ’s Halo Halo

Who remembers back in the days of middle school and early high school when we used to turn up Power 92.3 and hear Ma$e and his Bad Boy crew. Back when Diddy was still known as Puff Daddy and we use to try and relate to the rappers with Mo Money Mo Problems. Although back then, my idea of Mo Money wouldn’t even cover a nice dinner with my wife today.

Well our Bad Boy homeboy quit rapping a few years ago to become a preacher, and of all places he has ended up in Phoenix. Many rappers have stated they would do this. Even DMX (who is currently locked up in a Maricopa County jail right now) said this and still says he plans to be a preacher.  But Ma$e, who now knows by Betha (pronounced Beth-ay) stuck with  it.

Recently, the Phoenix New Times profiled Betha (LINK) and his new upstart church in Phoenix. Yes, Phoenix. Here are a couple excerpts.

“One night he was smoking his morning joint on April 4, 1999, when the girl he’d spent the night with asked if he wanted to go to church. He didn’t, but, for some reason, he went anyway. Midway through the service he felt called to the altar, where he fell to the ground and saw a vision of himself leading people to Hell. The pastor said a prayer over him, prophesying that he’d never again rap for the devil. He gave up hip-hop the next day.

Betha, whose main gig is at El Elyon International Church in Atlanta, flies to town once a week to host a Thursday-night service. 

For now, Betha’s church in Phoenix is small. About 40 people packed into the first five rows of Carl Hayden High School’s auditorium on a recent Thursday as a four-piece rock band warmed them up for Betha’s sermon.

Here’s a man who gave up his life as a rapper at the height of his popularity — just as he was about to release the follow-up to his debut, an album that hit number one on the Billboard 200 — to share the word of the Lord. Whatever you think about his goal, that gives Betha some street cred. Much more than Ma$e ever had, anyway.“