Ladies and Gentlemen in the blue corner fighting out of Carol City , Florida
I hate to say it folks but Keeping It Real ain’t getting out
of the first round here. Officer Ricky is back and once again he’s put together
an album worth listening too. Inexplicably this man keeps the heavyweight
championship of Oz though the curtain has long been pulled back, rolled up and
discarded like a $3 bill used to sniff cocaine last weekend.
Don’t get me wrong plenty of Hip Hop careers have perplexed
me. I’m looking at you Wreckx N Effect. Because I mean nothing says let a group
record 3 albums more than combining Guy with Jodeci with a pinch of leather
vest and dash of Timberlands in the summer. Truth be told there have been many successful
acts to get caught up in playing a role that they don’t have the slightest
claim to, *cough* Ja Rule *cough*. But never has one man been more CB4 than
Rick Ross. I mean at least Gravy had himself shot, “A” for effort Gravy. All
Ross has done is bite someone else’s hair cut, and possibly get butt injections
into his chest and the back of his neck.
But here he is, back again, and truth be told he’s probably
put out the most consistently quality product of any emcee over the last
several years. Good job Hip Hop you just keep on getting it right.
Now while Ross doesn’t have the clever word play of someone
like Jay-Z he does share a trait with Hov in that his ear for picking a beat
and complementing it with his rhymes are close to impeccable. I often find
myself wishing Ross would switch up his flow a little bit but I never feel like
he’s wasted a beat, and with Mastermind he’s done it again. Using a wide range
of producers with varying production styles Ross’ baritone and slow flow melt
into the tracks and ties all the beats together and has the project sounding
like the cohesive works of one production team. A far cry from what we had for
much of the last 15 years in Hip Hop with endless albums of Neptunes ,
Timberland, Swizz Beats, rinse repeat. Those years gave rise to the super
producer and put us on the path to the cookie cutter records we hear now.
Mastermind however is far more reminiscent of the late 80’s early nineties when
most of the major acts like De La Soul, Naughty by Nature, NWA, Public Enemy,
etc had their own distinctive sounds and recorded albums that sounded like they
were the product of a singular vision.
Surprisingly evidence suggests that an alcohol selling
master of wearing leather pants named Puff Daddy is largely responsible for the
unified sound of this project as an executive producer and being heavily
involved in the mixing of the project.
Stating that he wanted the album to sound like it was recorded in one
day in the same studio. Mission
accomplished.
The old school philosophy doesn’t end with the mixing of the
record, as it continues into the lyrics. Ross name drops Hip Hop veteran Dana
Dane (and indirectly Slick Rick) on the Mike Will Made It produced banger “War
Ready”. And doesn’t destroy B.I.G’s masterpiece You’re Nobody (Till Somebody
Kills You) on the Puffy produced (go figure) “Nobody”. And while many might see the song as a
misstep as it clearly illustrated the lyrical disparity between the Great One,
Big; and the Next One, Ross. It also shows that Ross is no fool. He knows how
to write a record. And maybe more telling is the fact that he knows who he
writes records for. His audience doesn’t want to listen to “rapping ass rappers”.
They want to be able to understand every word being said without needing to
reference a dictionary.
The mining of Hip Hop’s past continues with a homage to Camp Lo
And that to me may be the biggest selling point of this
album, where as on his last album (the superior) God Forgives… I found myself
questioning why credible emcees would record with someone so embarrassingly phony,
I’m now enthralled by how these emcees bring their entire tool box to work when
Ross calls. “The Devil is a Lie”
features one of Jay-Z’s best verses in years. More so if don’t count his work
with Kanye. I’ve never been the biggest Jay-Z fan but I was pretty sure he was
headed to the glue factory after hearing rapping about his baby’s nursery on
Ross’ last album but here he is talking about shutting down Stop and Frisk (I
had no clue he did that but whatever). Scarface shows up on a bonus track on
the deluxe edition of the album and nearly steals the entire album. A coherent Lil
Wayne earns his first pay cheque since I don’t know, “Lollipop” maybe. Whenever
it was he and Ross have a good time on the J.U.S.T.I.CE League produced "Thug
Cry", which has a nice flip of Souls of Mischief’s 93 Til Infinity. I’m sure I should
be giving credit to a sample there but what I know is 93 Til Infinity. I think Jeezy does a great job on “War Ready” but
that could be because I’ve never listened to an entire Jeezy verse before. Kanye
West and Big Sean turn up on “Sanctified” and provide Ross with value for every
penny he paid them. No guest takes a night off here.
Still I can’t help but wonder if Ross is at the end of the line
here as he hasn’t come close to really breaking new ground or expanding his fan
base. I can see a shift in popular music derailing him like asteroids on the
heads of silk shirt wearing dinosaurs. But on the flip I’m also reminded of
that great Mark Jackson quote from many years ago. “I am too old to play in the
league. But none of these young guys know how to play basketball so that allows
me to keep playing.” Say what you will but in a world where Kreayshawns get
million dollar contracts you have to take note of the fact that Ross knows how
to make albums.
4 out of 5