The beats on this sound like something from a few years prior in some instances and leave a lot to be desired. Paris, PE, K-Solo, Ice Cube, ATCQ are a few examples of hip hop artists who had much more original and interesting production from 1990. I love Ace on future albums such as 'A Long Hot Summer', but on this, there are occasions where he doesn't impress me a lot, with a number of lines being quite simplistic and corny. It isn't bad, but it isn't something that I'll play again. Best Tracks: Music Man, The Other Side of Town, Can't Stop the Bumrush, Maybe Next Time, Together

I don't get some of the early love for this compared to Ross' other projects. Rick has never released a great album, but there has almost always been a few tracks to go back to with every release. I think this is consistently decent, but that's it. I do not get excited for anything here. There isn't even one great banger featured, that with Ross, in this trap-age, you could have been assured of. The attempts at it, like the opener and 'Big Tyme', aren't anything special with the latter being too repetitive, that is a problem other tracks have as well. I find his flow more annoying throughout this than I have in the past too. The beats definitely aren't touching some of the production he has had in before. The fact that I rate a song with Drake on it as one of the better moments says a lot about this album's high moments. Best Tracks: Rich Nigga Lifestyle, Born to Kill, Nobody's Favorite

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

From beginning to end this would be the best Rick Ross album so far as far as I'm concerned. A few stand-outs but a fairly consistent album, even if it does drop off in the last couple of tracks. You do feel though that some of these beats could be turned into something great if a more capable lyricist and rapper was on them as opposed to Rick, who is a rapper who needs a plethora of guests on his albums. It's a shame that often good rappers choose or are getting poor beats and vice versa for good beats. It's worth checking out particularly if you have liked anything else from him, but I just find him slightly boring over a whole album. Best Tracks: Free Mason, Maybach Music III, Live Fast Die Young, Super High, Aston Martin Music

I've been on a few hip hop sites reading reviews and comments on this album as I usually do, and I feel the general consensus is that while Rick is improving he still lacks lyrical skills and that the production is good-great. One of the producers of the album even said they used some of Biggie's stuff as inspiration. Me personally though, while the production is the best part of the album it isn't brilliant and Ross is fairly boring throughout which brings it down. You may spin 'Deeper Than Rap' a couple of times but it doesn't have a huge amount of replay value. Best Tracks: Magnificent, Usual Suspects, Valley of Death, In Cold Blood