Mastermind 2014 Album

Rick Ross

Ross has always had a bangin' song or three on each album. After a couple of spins of this, I'm not hearing anything fantastic though. The first two songs feel similar and go fairly hard without reaching true banger status. 'Nobody' is a remake of a song I have at 10th place in my favourite hip hop songs of all time. It's a bit of a grower and I love the added female vocals ("La La La La"), but one of the worst current artists, French Montana, on the hook is weak, and you just can't touch the original. The fifth or sixth Ross/Jay-Z collaboration is okay... 'Mafia Music III', originally for Dre's Detox, becomes a bit of a mess to me. The beat's poor, Ross' verses are boring - a theme throughout the album - and I don't like the features. It gets worse the further it goes on and is the worst Mafia Music track so far. While 'War Ready' will get some turnt up, I don't like the hook and it becomes tedious before it ends. The radio-friendly 'Supreme' sounds like a pop rap song from the early-mid '00s. Again, it isn't bad but nothing sensational. It's great to see the producer Scott Storch getting back into it though. I like BLK & WHT. It works. Good beat with a simple catchy hook - "but he selling whhiiiiiiiite". After that is one of the few useless skits. Next, 'In Vein' is a strong song with a cloud rap-like beat and The Weeknd adds a lot to it despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of him vocally. 'Sanctified' has received some foreseeable hype due to being the one Kanye West co-produced beat here-DJ Mustard did most of the work there though. When a song begins with Sean saying, "All I want is 100 million dollars and a bad bitch," it doesn't leave one with much hope. Big Sean's voice is wack and those lyrics are the epitome of generic. Then Kanye repeats them... For a song with the title 'Sanctified', not to mention the Betty Wright intro, someone may be expecting lyrics less generic, as opposed to getting head, having cash and drinking expensive champagne. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the link. Especially in Rick's verse. The beat also just sounds... I don't know. Like a nursery rhyme. It's far from Kanye's best. Producers need to stop using samples that have already been used on classic songs. I just can't help but compare them to the older classic. That is the case for 'Thug Cry'. Thankfully the Wayne verse here isn't as bad as most of his recent lyrical performances making for an alright tune. It still lacks some effort though, sounding like a freestyle at times. From there, on the deluxe edition, 'Blessing in Disguise' ain't bad - again the beat isn't wowing me - featuring two rappers who need to put out some fresh material, especially Z-Ro who has been screwed around for what seems like years due to label issues. Almost every time Ross gets put with a legend, in this case Scarface, the difference is noticeable. 'Paradise Lost' has a likeable soulful beat, again though, the lyrics are mostly what we hear from Ross on 90% of his songs despite the deeper hook. And to conclude, 'You Know I Got It (Reprise)' adds nothing to the original 'Fu*k With Me You Know I Got It' unless you don't wanna hear Jay. Mastermind starts off okay and ends well, but there are too many poor songs and more importantly, there isn't one song I'd rank high enough to place in a top 10-15 Rick Ross song list. Lyrically at times, he wants to go deeper but he definitely has limitations in this area of rapping. Finally, he has always needed marvellous beats, and while these are crisp beats on the whole, there are not many present here in my opinion that are superb. Maybe the 2/5 is harsh, as it is perhaps his most consistent overall, but it loses big points from me for not having any song with noteworthy replay value on it, and I fail to see why this is being held up higher than his previous work. 2-2.5 / 5. Best Tracks: Drug Dealers Dream, BLK & WHT, In Vein, Paradise Lost