It really should come as no surprise that Vincent "Mase" Mason speaks with little pause. After all, he does comprise one-third of highly influential hip-hop group De La Soul, an outfit lauded not only for its inventiveness but for its relaxed "flow", a genre-specific term referring to the ability to fire off word after word.
In the music business, such cadence can lead to cash or kudos. Sometimes the result is both, although Mason contends he's is not motivated by either. As he reflects on a career that started in 1987 and has involved touring six to eight months of every year since, he remains, primarily, a music fan.
Formed in Long Island, New York, by Mason and friends Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer and Dave Jolicoeur (note: the trio have adopted various other aliases over the years), De La Soul has released seven full studio albums (eight if you count 2009's Are You In?, part of a Nike series of albums available only through iTunes).
Like many in the hip-hop business, the group is also notable for its collaborations. More recently, these have included working with former Blur frontman Damon Albarn's Gorillaz outfit, with whom De La Soul shared a 2006 Grammy (Best Pop Vocal Collaboration) for the single Feel Good Inc. The track, off Gorillaz 2005 album Demon Days, peaked at No 2 on the United Kingdom singles chart and No 14 in the United States.
De La Soul also made a cameo on the third Gorillaz album, 2010's Plastic Beach, its rapping a highlight of track Superfast Jellyfish.
That loose-yet-tight vocal interplay has been a hallmark of De La Soul's work ever since it made the hip-hop industry sit up and take notice with its 1989 debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, an album that, with its positivity and peaceful outlook, ran counter to the more aggressive stance of other '80s artists such as LL Cool J, NWA and Public Enemy.
A critical and financial success, 3 Feet High and Rising nevertheless caused no small measure of inner turmoil for the group, Mason explains via telephone from a Sydney hotel earlier this week before the group heads to New Zealand for a tour that will include concerts in Dunedin on Friday, February 25, and Queenstown the following night.
"Here was 3 Feet High And Rising, but it was making the wrong impression.
"At the end of the day, 3 Feet High And Rising was a very fun record. It had a lot of happiness to it and reminded people of Woodstock, the '60s hippy era. We started getting classified as hippies of hip-hop, which was not our intention ever.
"I never knew anything about Woodstock or being hippies, any of that," Mason says, adding the overall perception of the album's cover (a yellow background is dotted with bright flowers and features the three members aligned in a pattern not dissimilar to a peace sign) provided a shallow pointer for those wishing to pigeonhole De La Soul.
"It's just like the music business - when they get something new and fresh they want to put a title to it, to categorise it. We couldn't allow that to be put on our music, on our culture, by a bunch of people who didn't want to accept it in the first place," Mason reflects in the same husky baritone that, along with his turntable skills, graces so many of the outfit's recordings.
"Who gave the industry the right to categorise it as 'alternative hip-hop' or 'hippies of hip-hop'?"
Thus the title for De La Soul's sophomore album: De La Soul Is Dead. Notably, its cover featured a broken flowerpot.
Produced by Prince Paul, the album was both light and dark: alongside an introductory game-show skit (repeated at various points, along with other absurd interludes) sat upbeat singles (A Rollerskatin' Jam Called) Saturdays and Pass The Plugs; there was also the sombre, brooding Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa, about a girl who kills her abusive father, and Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey), on which Mason and company decried those attempting to imitate De La Soul in order to launch a career.
It might have received mixed reviews on its release and not sold as strongly as its predecessor, but De La Soul Is Dead is now regarded as a hip-hop classic. To mark the 20th anniversary of its release De La Soul will perform the album in its entirety on tour, although Mason says other work will also be celebrated.
"Naturally, it is about the anniversary of it. You can't deny the birth date of a body of work such as that. But we are not just going to perform De La Soul Is Dead. Every record we have created has a special place with us."
Mason, who turned 40 last year, has swapped New York for Florida where, for the past nine years, he has lived with his wife and four children. Though the three members of De La Soul haven't shared the same city in more than a decade, they still interact regularly.
"It doesn't matter what city we live in. We see each other enough on the road. We have toured six to eight months of the year for the past 25 years."
As well as its own recent schedule, which has involved criss-crossing the Atlantic for European and United States dates, De La Soul has been busy recording and touring with Gorillaz, including performing at festivals such as Britain's Glastonbury.
Mason agrees that the connection with Gorillaz, in particular driving force Albarn, has been a great opportunity. It has also been a natural connection.
"We have become really good friends in the last seven or eight years. If he calls, I'm there. And vice-versa.
"It's not just about getting in the studio and doing a song; we've had some childhood moments. It was like we'd been at high school together in some other place and time. It's a weird feeling when you are with somebody you feel you've known your whole life.
"We are talking about somebody who is a fan of music. In this business, some people may have more success than others but you can truly tell who is genuine about music and entertaining, rather than being a celebrity or star.
"Although we create different genres of music, we are into the same thing. And it's not just music - it's life.
"With De La Soul, it always has to be a natural thing. It has to be honest. The people who have reached out to us have truly been fans of our music. We end up working with people with like minds, whether they are big or small. I've been collaborating from my very first album; it's not a new thing. Our music has always been a collage, whether it's our material or somebody else's."
Mason believes all people who make music look to be inspired by others. De La Soul is no different.
"We are hungry for new music, new ideas. We never get stuck on the work we've done.
"I think that has been maybe the gift and curse of De La Soul. We don't really acknowledge much of our old material; we're always looking to do something fresh. You have to feel what you are doing. I think that is why it takes De La Soul so long to come up with music. I'm not trying to make music to be at the Grammys next year.
"Although those things are nice, that's not why I got into this. I make music from the soul, for my own gratification. I don't mean to sound selfish to my fans but I have to be content with what I'm doing, not whether someone likes it or not. I make music for me first, and then for the world."
Mason says music is a conduit back into his childhood. Accessing that innocence thus provides the elements of fun so prevalent in De La Soul's songs. However, although his group may not promulgate the misogynistic and sometimes violent lyrics of some of its hip-hop contemporaries, he says the gulf between approaches is not that wide.
"We are all grown men. Come on, who doesn't like sex? For those artists who have negative connotations or 'gangsta' elements in their music ... if you really listen to their music they are just expressing a lot of harsh realities that have taken place in their lives. Amongst that, there is also a lot of innocence as well.
"We never really embraced that gangsta culture [but] it's there. I've had just as many fights as those guys. Some suburban areas have higher police protection than others; some people are forced into a situation where they have to protect themselves.
"At the end of the day you're talking about children who have had to adapt to their environment. Hip-hop was our imaginary toy."
• See them
De La Soul and guests perform at The Urban Factory, Dunedin, on Friday, February 25, and at Revolver, Queenstown, on Saturday, February 26.
