Yes, the cover work of this album is not very tempting to buy this record. But don't judge a book by it's cover. The same goes for records, and the same also goes for a lot of reviews. But that's a whole nother story, we are not about to talk about now. And so the intrumental and unofficial intro, called "Hot Shit #12" is actually aptly titled, as this album does feature it's fair share of 'hot shit'.

Showing that the Masterminds like it bouncy, the Epod produced "Liberty" dum-dum's with a bass. And if you don't pay attention, you will miss punchlines, like "our only claim is we're the brightest / don't want to be the nicest lyricists / 'cause truthfully words are primitive" or "we're moving crowds like water in front of Moses / you're wet before you notice", both being spit by Oracle. While the drum adds a certain interesting aspect to "Shellshocked", the rest, as it is too keyboardy, is rather annoying. This Poisoned Ivy Entertainment (who also did the beats on the slept on Punk Barbarians album) does also not inspire the emcees to spit something extra, extra. However, we got the party started right, with "Bring It Back", that features Mr Khaliyl, who spits "you be looking up in the sky waiting for mysteries / while I'm steady creating history". The Kimani beat, now does inspires the cats behind the mic to go for theirs, as each one of them flows, like a glacier stream in the spring. Khaliyl sticks around to produce "Joints 2000", that sounds somewhat resembling of other tracks that have previously entered our ears. And with a chorus that's too repetitive for it's own good, this can't be considered to be one of the best cuts on here.

But Epod intends to turn the album around again, with producing "Onetwothree", that features L-Fudge, who spits "trying to enter a class of rappers substituteless / it takes mc's the caliber of U-Haul to move this / sounding like a Rupaul improvement / it don't fit like a 4th member of the Stooges". Kimani and Oracle also give you punchlines galore, with the latter going "use mics like satellites to serve mc's from adamite to ET / by candle light or big screen like the one on times square / got the place so packed you'd think it was a second to New Year". On "The Spinners", Kimani then diggs out a marching drum, that is saving the track, as it takes our attention away from the other predictable sounds, that still keep the cut energetic and kinda dope. But the lyrics are punches hit hard again, Oracle swinging "when I'm workin' it flowin' ridiculous it makes Poseidon seasick". On "2025" Epod returns, and switches the vibe, pulling strings out and patching them together, he creates a cinematic feel, that Kimani and Oracle use, to tell us this science fiction story. Epod keeps the beats coming on "Front To Back", that then unfortunately hands us something that sounds like an evil mixture of a Swizz Beatz and Rockwilder beat. And that's not a good thing. So we move forward to the collaboration with Mr. Lif, called "No Test". This track is on some tribes, flags and conquer fantasies, and Kimani spits "defeating us? better chance of Ol' Dirty being the president".

Kimani also hooks up the cool beat, that is used for "The Professionals". And again, if you don't pay attention, you will miss lines like "trying to make the cut like Bobbit" or "your feeble attempts to stop me be coming up short like Dr. Evil's little counterpart". Following up is the monstrously dope "Seven" track. Kimani hooked up a perfect combination of bleep, piano and an extra dope drum, to have J.Treds, El-P, J-Live, Mr. Complex and Shabaam Sahdeeq dropping guest rhymes. Still, things are not constantly as brilliant as this line up might make you think. As everyone is coming correct, not everyone is blowing your mind. Still Kimani says "sound silly like Wesley Snipes needing a sun tan" and Complex goes "I'm figure A, you're figure B / it's a little bit complex it ws hard to figure me / out spoken broken english hairline fracture words / I'm on some Hitchcock shit, don't be alarmed by the pack of birds". On "Day One", the Masterminds finally live up to their name, and to the title of this album. A whole album of rhymes like that, with adaptations to the times of today, and in 20 years from now, the lyric sheet would be read like "Souls On Ice" by Cleaver. Same goes for "Memories", that consists of the best beat on here (produced by Emmai Alaquiva, who hooked up one of the most beautiful pianos you are likely to hear for some time), and thoughtful rhymes, touching rhymes, that give this album a whole new level of relevance, with lines like "tell you why to this day I still get proud when people say / you lookin' just like your father / won't even bother to have to try to explain all the pain that I feel / many words can't express when real is truly real".

Add to all of that an outro something ("Free"), that includes the singing of Jasmine Lee and the poetry of Judy Rogers. We could have done without the singing and more of the poetry. But by now we already have mixed feelings about this album, as there's good stuff on here, but there's also not that good stuff on here. What puts this album into perspective too is, that tracks like "Memories" or "Bring It Back" have already been released on "Live From Area 51: The Extraterrestrial Project" EP. And if you then look at the rest on here, and how it seems to wanna appeal to an audience that would enjoy the music of a "Blackout" album (yes, the Method Man / Redman one), that hardly was what we were hoping for. Still, there are too many clever punchlines, too many funky enough beats, and several jewel tracks on here, to even intend to dismiss this.