By Dominic LaFratta

“I just want to say this, there’s no part of any of this that I regret. Like, there’s nothing that happened that didn’t need to happen.” 

With a room full of musical memorabilia, from a Bootsy Collins figurine to a signed RZA poster from a special screening of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Mathew Nasser is a musical fanatic. His enthusiasm is not only for the celebrated iconics of the past, but extends to his own creative efforts which he’s worked at for the past thirteen years. 

Known professionally as Mathew B., the Queens native has released ten projects to date. From the same New York borough as hip hop legend’s Nas and Havoc of Mobb Deep (among others), and just a few miles from The Bronx, where hip-hop first began, the art form is fundamental to Mathew’s being. With an extensive discography ranging over a decade, Mat, as he’s often called, has achieved a mild taste of notoriety. However, Mathew B.’s story isn’t that of the struggling artist, but rather a seasoned vet who’s mobilized his pitfalls into tools for long term success. 

On Mathew B.’s song “Snuff,” he raps, “I’m 29 now, I was only 19 / When I started writing verses on 29th street.” However, the seed of a career in music dates back to his early teenage years. Mathew recalls being in the studio with his friends as they worked music, but merely sitting on the side, watching. He notes, “I was scared to start because it didn’t make sense.” Despite the fear, Mathew envisioned himself as the rapper on stage. Eventually, the lyrics started to form. Through friendly rap battles, Mathew started to train his lyricist muscle. At seventeen, with an amateur set-up, Mat began to slowly make records. It wasn’t until attending college that he became truly prolific. Mat recalls, “I really wanted to rap. It sucked, but I was recording often.” From these earlier recordings, Mathew pieced together his first ever mixtape, and “it was trash.” However, it was at this time that he became a rapper. He notes, “I learned how to write, I stopped sounding like an amateur on beats…At 19, I was already sounding like there was the beginning of something, like people started to fuck with me.”  Even though Mathew did not release his debut project, Plans Change, at 20 years old, he reflects, “the identity of who I am as a rapper started when I was 19.”

Mathew B. quickly followed up his 2012 project with a second mixtape titled High Rhymes in 2013. With this tape “there was a significant increase in my rapping…it was very well received and people got behind me after that one.” In 2014, Mathew released a five song EP called French Inhale. However, around this time the music industry started to shift. Popular websites like Datpiff were replaced with Soundcloud. Mathew released French Inhale with little publicization because, as he admits, “things were changing and I wasn’t understanding how to put shit out.” 

In 2015, Mathew became more focused than ever. “I started making a lot of fucking songs. I started learning how to produce. I started learning how to do audio engineering. Like, I have more unfinished songs from 2015 than finished songs up until 2015.” Much of Mat’s drive was due to his lack of satisfaction with his career and general uncertainty of his future. After grinding away and compiling a collection of songs ready to be shared with the world, Mathew’s momentum would be greatly halted by a house fire which resulted in him losing all of his music, equipment, and much more.  

2017 saw Mathew slowly getting back into recording, but from 2018 to 2020, “there’s nothing.” Mathew faced a lot of turmoil during this time period. His access to studios and producers had dwindled. He ran into issues with other artists and producers not sending him mixes on time, canceling shows day-of, not receiving payments for his services, and a series of other ordeals. These limiting, and rather disheartening, factors changed music from a passion to a locus of anger for Mat. He asked himself at that time, “why do I feel this way over something that used to bring me so much joy.” And so, Mathew stepped back from music. 

When reflecting on this trying time, and the inconsistency of the years that preceded, Mathew made it clear, “I just want to say this, there’s no part of any of this that I regret. Like, there’s nothing that happened that didn’t need to happen…I think sometimes you need to go through hardships to build character, and not only to build character, but to build tools, to build a thick skin…I think those years were growing pains, learning to do shit, getting it together, I learned so much.” 

Through time away, and a series of perspective altering experiences, such as working an externship program in Kaua’i, Hawai’i for hotel management (that’s a story for another time), Mathew’s passion for music became revitalized. At the end of 2020, Mathew B. returned for his fifth project, The Mathew Effect.  Mathew’s revitalized love and work ethic hasn’t stopped, but rather continues to grow even greater than before. With six projects under his belt since late 2020, Mat’s process is machine-like. Tre Eiht, a frequent collaborator of Mat’s, said it himself, “Mat’s a machine. I call him the Pac of my generation because he’s just a machine, he’ll go in there and in 15 mins he’ll have his whole sixteen. Give him another five mins and he’ll write the whole hook…It’s inhuman sometimes, he goes in for six hours and comes out with seven songs.” And “inhuman” it is. Mathew recounted the creation of his upcoming project, which, in short, detailed him making four songs in one day, bouncing between songs, as his collaborators came and went from the studio. 

Such efficiency is the key principle Mathew operates behind. With a history of collaborators both great and scummy, Mathew acknowledges that the “best thing you can do is become self-sufficient.” And he certainly has. While chatting with me from his room in Queens, Mathew had his microphone set-up directly to his left, detailing, “I’m so good at recording myself bro. Like I literally press a button, stand up, record. Push a button, stand up record. You’re literally watching where I made 150-200 songs bro.” 

From first meeting him 2019 to now, Mathew’s mindset and framing has greatly altered. His definition of success is more defined and personalized. With less emphasis on ‘blowing up,’ Mathew exudes a great sense of confidence for his future. “There’s so many places the chips could land. I could be the most successful rapper ever possibly. I could be someone who very few people know but the people who know me will argue to their friends in the barbershop that I’m better than their favorite rapper. I could be someone no one knows till 20-30 years after I die and then someone finds my mixtape and says “this is crazy.” But one thing I’m confident in is the enjoyment and excitement I get from making this shit and listening to it for myself is why I do it and why I’ve continued to do it for so long.” 

Among his self-sufficiency, the community of artists around him, and a studio he just became the part owner of, Mathew’s creative future is limitless. “Now he’s a seasoned vet,” notes Tre, and that veteran status has and will continue to leave Mathew fulfilled and successful, as he says, “success is and always has been, I wanna say some shit I’ve never heard before in a way it’s never been said before. I have consistently outdone myself in that regard.” 

And if you’re not a fan, Mathew doesn’t care. “If I’m not your cup of tea, go get a cup of coffee, like fuck.”

Stream/Listen to Mathew B.’s latest single, “Deep Dark Vanilla,” here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1vLaPOz78T0gC01Fw5Kkb2?si=tsXxYfhLRBiOe_EYN56UUQ