Rapper Mase and R&B singer Kelly Price are headed to Los Angeles this week for the annual Soul Train Music Awards, but both will take brief detours from their Soul Train itineraries to perform at a special pre-show party being thrown by a basketball legend.

Former L.A. Lakers all-star Magic Johnson will be hosting the little bash, dubbed "Soul in the House," at the city's Club Soho on March 25, the night before the Soul Train Music Awards take to the stage at the Shrine Auditorium.

Mase and Price have agreed to deliver live sets for the promotional event, which Magic will also use to introduce newcomers Avant, the first act signed to his Magic Johnson Music label, which has already secured a distribution deal with MCA Records.

Mase isn't nominated for any Soul Train Music Awards this year, but will be on-hand to help promote his own new label, All Out Records, and its inaugural album release from the group Harlem World, entitled "The Movement.

On the other

hand, Price will have a little business to attend to during the March 26 show, as the singer is up for a trio of awards -- including Best Female R&B/Soul Single for "Friend of Mine," and Best Female R&B/Soul Album for her 1998 debut, "Soul of a Woman."