Rick Ross
Mastermind (Deluxe Edition)
Reviewed by: Sebastian Mackay
Mastermind is the type of cliche, void of imagination, abhorrent, music we’ve come to expect from the hip hop industry. It systematically ticks every box on the list of cookie cutter, drone, bland, reproductions that come out of this industry. It feels as though the industry is on its knees and instead of swinging to stay alive it’s quite happily cutting itself into pieces. Is all hip hop awful and awash with pointlessness? No. Of course not. But this album is.
Moreover it’s like being abused (with words we can’t print) non stop with gunshots and generic beats thrown in for good measure. And that’s what really gets me going. This album of 16 tracks with collaborations (including Lil Wayne, Jay – Z and French Montana) doesn’t have a single original sounding beat (or indeed any original sound at all) to go with the amount of my life I’ve lost by reviewing it.
“Drug Dealers Dream” contributes nothing noteworthy to the album. It feels and sounds a lot like the tracks before it but there is one exception: it’s a touch more socially aware, being about drugs and murder, but it’s too much of a stretch to suggest Ross was being political not conventional.
And that’s the thing with Ross. He has the potential to be meaningful, political, socially aware, but he’s not. His lyrics cover a lifestyle he either has or has an infatuation with. Shooting people, breeding prolifically and taking drugs. This is a new release and already it’s old and tired.
No other songs were worth a mention.
Rating: Intolerable
