Masta Ace and Wordsworth are two such rappers. In 1987, Ace –– then a marketing major at the University of Rhode Island –– launched his career by rocking a rap contest and winning studio time with producing pioneer Marley Marl. The six-hour session impressed Marley, who invited Ace to spit on the now-classic posse cut “The Symphony” (alongside Craig G, Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane) and eventually saw to his signing with Cold Chillin’ Records and membership in the Juice Crew. In the years that followed, Ace dropped a string of notable albums and opened for Public Enemy and EPMD at London Theatre to a crowd of 20,000 –– a moment in his career that he is most proud of. “I had never, ever seen that many people [from] onstage before,” he recalls.

As a kid growing up on the border of Flatbush and Kensington in Brooklyn, Wordsworth idolized artists like Melle Mel, Slick Rick and Run-DMC. Not knowing that his favourite artists wrote their rhymes, Words began freestyling in fourth grade, striving to replicate the fluidity of their flows off the top. When he graduated from the State University of New York Old Westbury, Words and his friend Punchline formed the duo Punch & Words, which gained recognition on New York’s Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito radio show. From there, Words made appearances at 1997’s Lyricist Lounge showcase at Tramps in New York, on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Rock Rock Y’all” and Black Star’s “Twice Inna Lifetime,” three Lyricist Lounge tours and both of its compilation albums. In 2000, Wordsworth co-created and starred in the The Lyricist Lounge Show, a sketch-comedy series that aired on MTV.

Off stage, Ace and Words are as unassuming as the next man. Ace, for instance, is a high-school football coach and a “pretty good cook.” Words loves video games and will eat the shit out of some Thai chicken wings. At shows, like on their recent tour across Canada, the two can be found counting and sorting their own merch, leaving the writing of the prices to their DJ –– A.Vee –– only because he “has the nicest writing.” At home, Ace and Words spend time with their wives, watch their daughters grow and plan for the future. “I do the same thing that everyone else does,” says Words. “When they’re sitting there watching TV, thinking about what’s the next thing they’re going to do for the rest of the day, or how they can make things better in their lives, I’m doing the same thing.”

But onstage, the mundane is forgotten and things are different. “The very calm persona you see here… that persona changes once a live show happens,” says a usually reserved Ace. He walks on stage with an air of grandeur and commands attention like an explorer who has traveled to other worlds and returned home with stories to tell. Wordsworth, on the other hand, prefers to run on and jump, with the fire and hype of the battle raps he is best known for. From there, their performance is a borderless blur of booming bass and colorful club lights. For the next two hours, Ace takes the crowd to ’88 and back with songs like “The Symphony,” “Me and the Biz,” “Born to Roll,” “Take a Walk” and “Da Grind.” Words, who effortlessly tears up tracks like “Gotta Pay” and “On Your Feet,” flows with the eloquence expected of someone who used to write all his college papers in rhyme.

Every day on tour is a day away from home, however, and for these family men, it is difficult. “Man, it’s hard,” says Words, who has two daughters, age four and three mos. “I try to make sure while I’m on these tours that it’s definitely beneficial for the future of the family. I don’t want to just be on tour, and not making money, and come home broke, because I know people that do that.” A smile spreads across his face as he thinks of his daughters. “I’ll never stop being amazed by her,” he says of his eldest. “That’s the illest thing I could ever do in life, to just have kids.” Ace, who is on the road “a little less than half” the year, was on the phone with his wife when their daughter, who just turned one, took her first steps. “I miss some of the little moments that you want to be there for, as she advances and learns to do things,” he says genuinely. “But my wife is very understanding in what I do for a living to make ends meet and feed the family.”

Masta Ace is currently promoting his latest album, A Long Hot Summer, which will continue with a tour of the American west coast in February. In the studio, he is working on a “collaboration project that I can’t really talk about,” for which a single will be released early 2006 on his label, M3. If it’s well-received, he says, he will likely hit the road and tour again. Wordsworth is promoting his first studio album, Mirror Music, and is featured on Da Beatminerz’ Fully Loaded with Static and Marco Polo’s Canned Goods.

When asked what the most beautiful thing about hip-hop today is, Ace says it is “the fact that you don’t have to be a commercial artist –– or have 100 spins on the radio a day, and the videos on MTV and BET –– but you can still perform at a club for 800 people that love your music and scream and yell and know the words to every song.” Words shares the sentiment, calling it beautiful to have people fight for your cause with you off the strength of your music. “I think that’s the hottest thing ever, because you got kids that never had no dreams of leaving the neighborhood actually be able to see the world off the strength of hip-hop.”

For more information on Masta Ace, visit MastaAce.com and M3HipHop.com. For information on Wordsworth, visit WordsworthMusic.com and MySpace.com/Wordsworth.