Photo Credit: Ernest Estime
Everything that Rick Ross does nowadays is highly regarded among the internet and streets. If he signs somebody new, we all want to listen. He drops a new single, we rush to our favorite blog to hear it. The list goes on. So, it’s only right that he make a big-ish Twitter event for his sixth album title. Originally, January 1 was the date to announce, but it got pushed back to January 7 (yeah, I haven’t the slightest clue either). To make the wait even longer, he tweeted how he woke up early to give us the title, only to wait until the afternoon. He finally did reveal the title with a trailer attached.
Mastermind. Another show of Ross’ high level of confidence and a reflection of his position in the rap game. He turned Maybach Music from just a name to a respected brand, and helped jumpstart the careers of Meek Mill, Stalley, Gunplay, Rockie Fresh and we could make an argument for Wale. Sure, he’s never had a classic album, yet, but many classic records flood his endless catalog of five albums, countless mixtapes and everything in between. So, the title is not far fetched at all.
The thing that brought down God Forgives, I Don’t was the filler material. When Ross shined on joints like “Sixteen,” “Diced Pineapples” and “Maybach Music IV,” he made sure they were memorable additions to his catalog. Then, we have records like “911,” “Hold Me Back” and “So Sophisticated” that did little in the field of standing out and followed that formula branded by one of his biggest singles: “B.M.F.”
His sixth album isn’t slated until sometime in the summer, so he has plenty of time to tweak and construct what should hopefully be a more cohesive and stronger effort than GFID. The “biggest boss” needs to focus on diversity and more substance because those records are what propel his name. It’s anticipated to have a catchy single. Still, it’s not anticipated to have one and then add in a bunch of wannabe sounding singles to water down this tall glass of Ciroc.
On his guest features, he should settle for nothing less than the best. Being a “friend” in this industry doesn’t always get you the best results, and your projects should only hold quality. That’s to say you can have a strong collaboration yet a weak record, such as “3 Kings,” where Dr. Dre displayed Ross’ penmanship and Jay-Z taunted his earnings among other subjects. It was all over the place.
Despite his confidence, Ross is still finding himself in his music. The whole “B.M.F.” phase got blown out of proportion and played out as quick as “Racks On Racks.” Evidently, he knows how to make quality music or else he wouldn’t be at the level he is. His ear for beats has been fairly good but like I said, some of the material sounds like other previous records. A whole J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-produced album, though pricy, would prove to achieve an almost instant classic stamp in the field of production. Watching different artists, not the “flavor of the month,” could also strike ideas for new producers to utilize.
As with any popular artist, the fans just want to see Ross strive and push the envelope creatively. Mastermind is quite the bold title that is can easily come back to bite in the ears of critics if it doesn’t live up to expectation. We’ll see if the summer will indeed belong to Rick Ross once again.
