With reports lingering that the 1990s Puff Daddy & The Family/Bad Boy Records team may be reuniting for a tour following the BET Awards performance, Ma$e cracks the mic once more. The former multi-platinum, #1 album-maker aims to return to his roots with “When NY Was NY.”

A freestyle over the Tupac and Dr. Dre “California Love” bassline (as produced by Dre), Ma$e is not shy about rallying his peers to step their bars up and get gully with the gift of gab. Murda Ma$e uses the moment to recall the prominent fashions, styles, and attitudes of the days when this beat was brand new. He also is unafraid to spit about steppin’ to Puff for the funds he was owed later. To many, this will sound like the Ma$e that’s truly in step with his first two solo albums, before the Cloth or G-Unit.

Less than one year after “California Love” was the #1 song on the Billboard 100 (July 1996), Puff Daddy & Ma$e earned that spot with “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” (March 1997).

As Dre is back dominating headlines with Compton and Kendrick Lamar is garnering global acclaim for To Pimp A Butterfly, do you think the choice of beat and the era it alludes to is deliberate?

Related: Travel Back To Big L, Cam’ron & Ma$e Freestyling on Stretch & Bobbito in 1996 (Audio)