The Power of Rick Ross' Mastermind
Rozay buys your life.
The modern drug baron does not invest his money. No, he hoards all the coal at the local savings bank in the account that Mom and Dad invested for him at some point. This makes the overview of finances particularly easy: “Your checking account available balance is $92,153,183.28,” the automatic announcement brings the happy customer. Wow. Sounds like the “Drug Dealers Dream” has come true.
“Rich Is Gangsta,” that much is certain. However, Rick Ross does not bother to explain to the listener how he could fill his account with such immense sums. He doesn’t need it either. Just like a good horse, Rozay only jumps as high as he has to. He prefers to cover the rest of the way comfortably in the two-tone leather seat of a sinfully expensive Maybach.
Instead of torturing himself through the dormant story over the long way up, the “mastermind” turns the pointer of the diamond-studded Rolex a little and tells of life as a “young mogul.” There is no need for sophisticated storytelling, which, as you know, is not one of the strengths of the protagonist anyway.
So, window down, arm out, and in the middle of outrageous Rumgeprotze and Don’s demeanor pushed to the limits, as only one else could do: Rick Ross himself. This is much fun in this case.
“Benz coupe, wood frames, low fade, ni**a/Got the Cubans, got the boats, got the zoes, ni**a,” tagged the Florida trapper his belongings down to the last detail. It goes without saying that the good one lives in a strictly guarded magnificent villa with “elevators like Frank’s in Scarface” included.
By the way, if you call “Ricky the Ruler” your boss, you can look forward to similar luxury. Meek Mill and Wale, taken under the wing of the powerful Maybach Music Group, the generous boss once gave Cartier watches for the contract signature and Range Rover for the birthday. But despite all generosity, you also make enemies as a stinky rap mobster, as “Shots Fired” shows.
The police radio and news excerpts used in the skit recall January 2013, when Ross became the target of an assassination attempt. Several shots hit the car in which he and his girlfriend were sitting. Both got away unharmed. But how narrow the line between life and death can be, the rapper processes in the unusually deep “Nobody.” For this, he not only samples the complete beat of “You’re Nobody (Till Somebody Kills You)” but also comes up with a spoken intro by Sean “Diddy” Combs, which could already be heard on Biggie’s posthumously released track.
Here, even the otherwise ruthlessly boasting Kingpin pauses for a melancholy moment and realizes: “My desire for fine things made me a liar.” Not even French Montana disturbs the harmony of these strong almost five minutes, especially since he only speaks in the hook. But with the quintessence of the whole:
“You’re nobody till somebody kills you.”
The fact that Rick Ross is truly nobody is sometimes shown in the illustrious guest list. As he befits a Rangoorst, he gathers numerous stars around him, including Lil Wayne, The Weeknd, and JAY-Z. There are also several top-class players among the producers, but the basic framework of the 17-track record comes largely from the drawer of the already-mentioned Diddy.
The trap flood, which has been angry for years, no longer floods into the Port of Miami. As long as it booms properly out of the speakers, and it does, powerful beats as in “Blk & Wht” and “What A Shame” are still good as the ideal basis for Rozay’s voluminous, usual hoarse organ. This still convinces, although not with a special wealth of vocal and emotional facets.
Except in “Nobody,” there is neither a sad nor an angry, neither a gloomy nor a winged Rick Ross. There is only the one, always the same sounding Rick Ross, who drives Maybach, squanders money, and tells you that you will never drive Maybach and waste money:
“You still smokin’ weed on your car chase.”
Nevertheless, precisely because of this, Mastermind hits a nerve. When Ricky really gets rolling with the Jigga Man in the epic “The Devil Is a Lie,” the show-off takes shape: The main actor does not tell a tricky story about rise and fall, loyalty, and deceit. But he takes you into his detached Bonzen empire of cocaine, money, power, and luxury cars. Whether you like it or not, he doesn’t care. Because in the “Untouchable Maybach Empire,” only his word counts anyway: “The devil is a lie, bitch I’m the truth / The devil is a lie, bitch I’m the proof.”
Even if he has to submit to the more technically accomplished Trap Lord Jeezy in the second single release, “War Ready,” the self-confiding Don, in all his simplicity, also inspires in the sixth attempt, as long as you can get involved in switching off your brain as much as possible and only listen to the fat sounds from the speakers.