NEW YORK -- Mase has a top-20 album on its way to going gold, maybe platinum, but the MC wants a little bit more. Last week he revealed that it's a dream of his to preach on MTV.

"My ultimate goal would be for MTV to give me an hour or 30 minutes live on like a New Year's drop-the-ball thing," said Mase, who is also a pastor. "That's what I really want to do. That's what I'm ultimately shooting for. That's what all this was about. [Most people] have never seen me in that light. Everybody wants to see, but they don't want to come to church. What better place to do it than MTV? I think if you want to be groundbreaking, you have to do something that's never been done. I came to do something that's never been done. Somebody sold millions of record before. I want to do something that hasn't been done."

Mase said his appeal at the pulpit would be so broad he'd attract everyone to tune in.

"People would say, 'I'd love to see that,' " he prophesized. "Somebody will call somebody and say, 'Your boy Mase is on MTV right now, preaching on MTV.' That would be beautiful. Everybody's gonna watch it. They gonna say, 'I wanna hear for myself.' Then when they see me, they're gonna say, 'This kid is serious!' "

Mase's emphasis on spreading the word doesn't mean he's retiring from music again. He's simply taking a two-week hiatus to spend time with his wife, who just had their first baby. Once he comes back, he may have a tour to start thinking about. There are talks at his record label about launching a Gentlemen of Bad Boy Tour with New Edition, Carl Thomas, Mario Winans, 112 and Mase.

One outing he won't be on, however, is Kanye West and Usher's Truth Tour. He never was officially on the bill, but he was supposed to be coming out as Kanye's guest on some dates. Mase isn't so wordy about his reasons for not appearing, only saying that West wanted him to come on the trek, but "the powers that be" stifled him.

"Everybody's been hating on me," he said. "I gotta tell the truth. For five years they say, 'We want you to come back.' I'm back, [and now] they hating on me. But I learned something: The same people you see going up, you see going down."

Mase doesn't need the Truth Tour to be on a bill with lots of star power. He's headlining a concert titled Welcome Back on September 25 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, and the Terror Squad and Mobb Deep are among the other acts on the bill.

"I don't drink or smoke, so I've got some reserve energy," he said of the show, which is his first concert at a Big Apple arena since coming back to rap. "I expect everybody to come out, it's gonna be a goodie. I already performed in New York at Webster Hall for my album-release party. It's always love. I went in there and blew the joint down. Everybody was in the joint jumping like, 'Oh, remember that? He is rocking right now.' "

Another item on the rapping preacher's checklist once he comes back from his brief layoff is to begin recording again. He's done guest spots on remixes by the Terror Squad and Kanye West, and now he wants to reaffirm himself in another genre.

"I gotta jump on the R&B joints and make it lovely again," he said. "I might have to blow that back up."

One artist he has his eye on is Brandy, whom he's worked with before. "I'd jump on a Brandy [remix]. 'Who Is She 2 U,' I like that. I need to be on that. That sounds like something I can flip."

Something Mase said he can't do is follow in the footsteps of P. Diddy, at least when it comes to hairstyling. "I don't do the Mohawk thing," he laughed. "I thought about it and said, 'Nah. I'm too cute for the Mohawk.' I gotta teach them how to spin these waves [in my hair]."

For more on Mase and his return to hip-hop, check out the feature [article id="1490910"]"Mase: The Fine Line Between Prayer And Playa."[/article]