Track Masons is an independent Hip-Hop/RnB record label based out of Pennsylvania. The label is comprised of 3 artists: Bee Ez, Crusafix and Rukus and 5 producers: Dana B., Chef Boy-R-Beatz(JC), Too Much, Def and 22'z. The group has had the opportunity to perform in front of notable acts such as Bone-Thugz and Harmony, Cassidy, Saigon and Canibus. The Masons have also recorded music with Juelz Santana.

The company was originally founded in 2006 by Dana B. and JC as a 2 man production team with the concept of building original music. After graduating from Wilkes University and 4 years of playing music side by side at 90.7 WCLH-FM, Wilkes University's radio station, the pair decided to spend more time making music than playing it.

Late in 2006, Track Masons were introduced to acclaimed recording engineer Joe Loftus. With new contacts accesible, Track Masons began working on a compilation album. Bee Ez, a rapper from Far Rock Away, Queens, NY would boast heavy involvement with the Track Masons compilation project released in mid-2007. Shortly after that, he began working on a solo project. The self titled disc was released December 2008 featuring the single "Dream Girl." It was at this time the Masons newest recruit, Crusafix was introduced to the line-up.

If you spent your Friday nights playing Dungeons and Dragons with your friends, reading comic books or watching Star Wars, finally there is someone telling your story. Mc Chris, born September 2, 1975 with the Christian name of Christopher Brenden Ward 4th, spent his formative years like most white kids did that were from the suburbs. He most likely had Lightsaber battles with broomsticks... Who hasn't? But one thing he could do, that the other kids couldn't do, was spit mad rhymes with Gangsta skill!!! That's right, with his distinctly high-pitched voice, Mc Chris rhymes about everything that only someone who might have attended a Science-Fiction convention could understand. (not really)

Chris has become "the Voice" of Nerdcore, but he wears the label reluctantly. He doesn't want to be Pigeon-holed into one genre. He likes to call his style "Mc Chris music" because he basically is rapping about what it is like to be "Christopher Ward." Not getting too abstract about who he is and what he wants out of his music and career has allowed him to keep things in perspective and stay true to his roots. Many people have been able to relate to his lyrics.

I will never forget when I first heard Nate Dogg's distinct voice in Warren G's "Regulate." I was about 13 or 14, playing Baseball for the West Inverness Rec Counsel, and I wasn't yet sure if I was a "Yo-Boy" or "Progressive"... "Progressive" at the time was what the kids called people who listened to Rock music like Nirvana, Tool, and Metallica... Pretty much anything with Guitars and Drums in it... Anyway, what I liked about that song was the dual vocal performance of Warren G rapping the verse and Nate Dogg singing the bridge. Nate had a voice that was the product of being a part of his church choir and the things he would sing about were things that the kids on the street could relate to.

Snoop Dogg and Warren G were members of the notorious "Rollin' Twenty Crips" and together with Nate they formed their first group called "213." The demo they had recorded made its way through the ears of Dr. Dre at a party and after that it was on. Nate was signed to Death Row Records in '93 and was featured on Mista Grimm's "Indosmoke" along with Warren G. However the song "Regulate" would be considered both Warren G AND Nate Dogg's break-out hit. The song was featured on the soundtrack to the movie "Above the Rim" and won the award for "Best Movie Song" at the 1995 MTV Movie Awards and "Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group" at the 1995 Grammy Awards. Nate Dogg WAS the voice of the G-Funk era... Funked out with a Gangsta twist!!!

Nate would go on to collaborate with many well-known artists in the industry, helping them to chart numerous singles on the Billboard Hip-Hop charts. Although lending his voice and talents to other artists would help them achieve success, he was never quite able to see the same in his own career.

Dr. Dre had created a sound when he released "The Chronic" and no one personified it more than Nate Dogg. The Funk samples, the Gangsta Rapping, the Soulful voices, all came together to put an image in our brains, and paint a picture in our souls. The notes of those songs resonate inside of us, to this day, and the loss of such an innovative artist will not go un-noticed. There will be a void left to be filled now, and the way things have been going, that void will get filled with garbage. The industry needs to wake up soon and recognize that it is losing its true founders and creators and when they are all gone there will be nothing left. Nate Dogg had a wonderful life and career and will be greatly missed by many, Black and White people, Rap fans to Rock fans... True talent has no boundaries!!!..... "It's the G-Funk era, funked out witha Gangsta twist!!!"

Nathaniel Dwayne Hale aka Nate Dogg

August 16, 1969 - March 15, 2011

Rest In Peace...

Sometimes I find it difficult for me to write about Hip-Hop. In my humble opinion, Rap music has lost something over the last, oh say, about 12 years. In my humble opinion, since the release of Wu-Tang's "Wu-Forever," Hip-Hop with substance has been absent from the scene. Save for maybe a few artists such as Jay-Z, Eminem and... hell, I can't think of anybody but them that has done anything even remotely inspiring. (again, this is my humble opinion) When Rap music started, it came with a message. Rappers were like street poets telling the story of their street, and it meant something. All Rap music is about today is a whole lot of nothing. No message, no meaning, just one person trying to make money off of another person, a shining class of Pimp's and Ho's. Hip-Hop is a billion dollar industry that supports an endless array of people that simply choose to milk it like a cash-cow and say fuck the history, fuck the culture, change the message and make it something it was never meant to be!

Author, Producer, Activist and Lecturer, Public Enemy's own Chuck D has not only been non-stop Touring with the group, recording albums and always letting his distinct voice be heard, but he has also been on the college lecture circuit for the last 20 years. Quite impressive for someone at the helm of such an aggressive, militant style Hip-Hop group. Chuck D backs up his lyrics with a real life college education of his own. I had the opportunity to sit in on one of his lectures, February 16th at CCBC Essex Campus, along with my good friend M. Bosse. Topics were to include Rap, Race, Reality and Technology. When he first came in, he stayed perfectly humble, all he had on his chair was a couple bottles of water, and he carried his own jacket and was very cordial to everyone. He started off by saying "This country does not honor education or students or intelligence" and the general message that I got was that above all else is education. Something else he emphasized was "the quality of you, not the quantity of you" and that people need to know what it is they want, and where it is that they want to go.