Welcome Back

Welcome Back is Mase's third album, released August 24, 2004. The album debuted at #4 on the charts, selling 188,000 copies in the first week, and ended up going gold. Released after a five-year break from the rap scene, the album was a product of Mase's newly developed "Christian" persona. None of the songs contain profanity, explicit lyrics, or inappropriate material that is usually associated with other work in the rap genre, although on some of his songs there are references to violent or sexual acts, but not as much as his past work. The new "clean" approach to rap received mixed reviews.

Even though the album was not a commercial success like Mase's previous albums, the singles, "Welcome Back" and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake", received moderate amount of radio play and video play on BET and MTV, with the latter even reaching #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Welcome Back" samples the theme song from the 1970s television show Welcome Back Kotter.