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Mar 3, 2014His flow too remains flawlessly weighted.
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Mar 6, 2014A tighter track list homing in on its sombre (and stoner) moods would’ve been bolder, but to his credit Ross avoids commercial trendiness in favour of more personal--if familiar--forays into Philly soul, funk, 90s hip-hop and South Beach glam.
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Mar 4, 2014Mastermind is a powerful album, an album with an identity, and one that has some solid songs and a handful of hits. Ross delivers just what he promised.
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Mar 3, 2014here’s no doubting that the beats on Mastermind, as you would expect from a production roster including Kanye West, Jake One, JUSTICE League and The Weeknd, are exceptional, lush and bombastic and full of zaftig soul samples. So, really, it’s all down to Rick and whether he shows up. And he does.
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Mar 3, 2014The album is a bit more raw than previous, so expect more fan favorites than hit singles. Otherwise, this is business as usual, and business is absolutely gangbusters.
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Mar 21, 2014This album may be a step up from his previous outing, 2012's God Forgives, I Don't, but Mastermind hints that the Rick Ross story may have nowhere else to go.
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The WireJul 17, 2014It's only unfortunate that such a master of making Rick Ross albums must live in a world where there are already five other Rick Ross albums. [May 2014, p.74]
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Apr 8, 2014The pieces tie together, and at the end of the day, there’s no denying that Mastermind is a fun album.
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Mar 5, 2014All the pieces of a game-changing rap LP are there, just a little jumbled.
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Mar 4, 2014Sinking into his throne while burping out a bottomless supply of coke and cash metaphors, he thumps along like a bass drum over songs that advance in lockstep; the album often feels like the hip-hop equivalent of a commemorative march for a triumphant ruler.
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Mar 3, 2014Much like Ross' affinity for mink coats, Mastermind is grandiose in its presentation, but it still only shows the surface of the man behind it.
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Mar 3, 2014The album might not be nearly good enough to launch him into any "classic" conversation, but it also not nearly bad enough to be viewed as a sign of his impending demise.
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Mar 4, 2014His star may be dimming, but he’s still got some spirited music left in him.
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Mar 4, 2014When push comes to shove, there are only about three songs here that merit that kind of mindshare--and none of those come close to his best singles. By his standards, Mastermind is technically a good album, but neither timely nor memorable.
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Q MagazineApr 23, 2014For a man who continues to spell his surname with two dollar signs, his act is lacking in real drama. [May 2014, p.121]
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Mar 14, 2014His bland cocaine narratives lack the compelling authenticity of Nas’s.
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Mar 4, 2014Mastermind simply lacks flair.
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Mar 6, 2014The moments where Mastermind gives us William Roberts the man instead of Rick Ross the gangster flick composite character with the borrowed name are scarce, and he remains committed to dialing in good life platitudes that increasingly ring hollow.
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Mar 17, 2014Mastermind passes by as a single, indistinguishable blur. To the credit of Ross and his many co-producers, the experience is rarely leaden and often engaging.
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Mar 7, 2014If the 62-minute Mastermind is bloated, it’s a healthy, controlled bloat.
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Mar 4, 2014This overlong record feels labored and bereft of new ideas.
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Mar 4, 2014This is Ross at his least cohesive and most clueless since his 2006 debut, Port of Miami.
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Mar 4, 2014Ross seems on auto-pilot here.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 51 out of 75
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Mixed: 12 out of 75
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Negative: 12 out of 75
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Mar 4, 2014
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Mar 12, 2014
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Mar 5, 2014