It's funny people hate on Puff and the direction he was taking Hip Hop but could you say Bad Boy dropped a wack album or song in 97? Ma$e was great, he actually was carrying the torch for Big as far as the commercial/street formula. Jay wasn't poppin yet and NaS was living off the success of the Firm album and It Was Written a year earlier. "Harlem World" ended up going 4x Platinum I believe. "Looking at Me", "Feels So Good" and "What You Want" were all top 10 hits. Ma$e just had so much charisma on the mic. He actually almost outshinned Big on "Only You Remix" and "Mo Money" but of course Big still got him but the point is Ma$e could hang. His laid back flow made people think he was pop. But trust, there was still some murda Ma$e in those bars.
"Harlem World" wasn't all fluff. Over all "Life After Death, No Way Out and Harlem World" was an amazing Trifecta and till this day Bad Boy 97 holds the record for highest certifications with albums and singles for a label in Hip Hop History. "Harlem World" was the final cherry on top to a Historic year with Bad Boy. Sadly Ma$e didn't keep his promise and make a harder LP on his sophomore.
Were were cool with a few club joints but in the Source with him looking like a Tiger he said he was going to go harder and the 2nd LP though it still had some joints just was a weaker version of "Harlem World". Overall I love the album. It's amazing he had The Lox, Black Rob, DMX twice, Jay Z, Lil Kim. The Hitmen laced him with great beats. To me it's a really solid album. I'd give it 4-4.5 for sure. It's influence was an extension again of Big's formula which Jay also used. But Ma$e was influential on artist like Fabolous and Camron. But I completely understand someone calling it a Classic for New York but it had that Impact on the game. Ma$e could of been running Hip Hop with DMX and Jay had he dropped a better album in 99'.
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but 24 hours to live is still 
