page_title: Mastermind (Rick Ross album)
section_title: Recording and production
hierarchical_section_title: Mastermind (Rick Ross album) / Recording and production
caption_attribution_description: English: Diddy performing at the eTalk Festival Party, during the Toronto International Film Festival.
context_page_description: Mastermind is the sixth studio album by American rapper Rick Ross. It was released on March 3, 2014, by Maybach Music Group and Slip-n-Slide Records, and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. The album features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Jeezy, The Weeknd, Kanye West, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Lil Wayne, French Montana, Diddy, Sizzla, Mavado, Z-Ro and Scarface. The album was supported with the official singles "The Devil Is a Lie", "War Ready" and "Thug Cry", in addition to the promotional singles "Box Chevy", "No Games" and "Nobody".
  Mastermind received generally positive reviews from critics. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 179,000 copies in the United States. The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards.
context_section_description: On January 9, 2014, the album was mixed by Diddy. Also in January 2014, Scott Storch confirmed that he provided production on the album. The following month, Mike Will Made It revealed that he had produced a collaboration between Ross and Jeezy for the album. The album was executive produced by Ross and co-produced by Diddy. On February 7, 2014, DJ Mustard revealed that he co-produced "Sanctified" with Kanye West. Ross collaborated with various artists during the album's recording process. The final version of the album would feature Jay-Z, Jeezy, The Weeknd, Sizzla, Mavado, Kanye West, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Lil Wayne, French Montana, Diddy, Scarface and Z-Ro.
  In a March 2014, interview with Shaheem Reid, he spoke about how the album's executive producer Diddy was adamant about having the album sound like it was recorded all in the same day, saying: "That's the expertise that Puff bring to the table. The way he orchestrate the music. Myself I'm in the studio—For example, and I'll hear a record come on from a writer's perspective I'm listening to the rhymes, the tones, punch lines, and then the beat. And it's the total opposite when Puff in the studio. He listening to the snare, to the high hat, to the kick. All previous of my five albums whenever I mixed my album and went to master it I could master my album in three hours. With the process Puff put it through it took three days. Yeah, so it was like giving it a '90s feel…I was in the studio. I'm smoking. I'm drinking. And Puff just said 'This album, this album it's missing one thing. We gotta make it feel like it was recorded in the same booth, same day.'"
caption: Frequent collaborator Diddy mixed Mastermind and was the album's executive producer.
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