Maybach Music mogul 'Masterminds' March's musical movements

March could be a big month in the rap season of 2014.

Not just for the solo one-man rapper either, cliques are getting ready to drop combined efforts to blow things apart.

ScHoolboy Q and Kid Cudi saw out February in a positive vibe (see Here and Here), Oxymoron and Satellite Flight both received decent numbers, positions and critiques - here's to what's on offer here and now.

As the headline suggests; Rick Ross leads the way in terms of predictions and hype (we're excluding Pharrell's G I R L and the stratospheric numbers it will reach being apart of the Billboard and the Top 40 as we know in the UK).

Even though the Maybach boss can be called 'hip-pop' or 'pop rap' or whatever you want to label it, his influence has remained all over the game and his newest effort 'Mastermind' has been plugged as much as ever.

Rozay's message to ever-
supportive fans on
Twitter.

God Forgives I Don't reached out to mixed feels following the acclaimed Teflon Don. I personally felt it a big hit from Rozay, with careful and considered features on some powerful album tracks (3 Kings & Sixteen with Dre, Hov and Andre 3k).

Diced Pineapples area he struggled to reach out to me and most of the mainstream following, it reached radio levels, but peaked at 71 on the Billboards, that's no good for a Drizzy featured lead single.

Ironically Mastermind's lead effort Devil Is A Lie (also feat Hov) flopped quite dramatically too, but while that lead single is again missing, Ross' tracklist has got to be some kind of positive substitute.

19 songs - with the deluxe version, aided by FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt, will certainly be whetting appetites with length alone, it's his longest effort since his debut LP, Port of Miami.

Whatever the outcome, it'll let us know the directions Ross and Maybach as a whole are heading.

As mentioned further up though the rap groups are very much in it together as the first quarter of 2014 comes to an end..

A$AP Mob with L.O.R.D. and Young Money with Rise Of An Empire stick out like a knee to the face.

Floppppped -
Rich Gang's 24k first
 week sales were kinda telling.

While Lord$ Never Worry has some following up to do, YMCMB will hope to bring a bit more glorification around their end after Rich Gang was shoved to one side abruptly last summer - are they gonna return to that We Are Young Money moment? I can't see it, times are a changed.

The powerhouse, non-label features don't grab you like in Rich Gang, the presence of artists like Shannell, Birdman, Lil Twist, Cory Gunz, Gudda Gudda and Jae Millz brings inescapable comparisons to the group's debut 09 smash.

Harlem's Mob sit in a different boat, trying to match their success will not be straightforward, that surprise factor has left them and now they're delivering to a grown number of expectant fans, fans that have spilled out into the radio bracket.  It could be there first real bout of pressure.

Not only Rocky and Ferg, but also the likes of Ant, Twelvyy and Nast have built a head of steam and they need that packet mixture of street, club bangers with a pinch of self-proclaimed 'late 90s NY style'.

They need to push on, the NY rappers cannot be labelled as failing to build on their first drop - I think Rocky and Ferg have enough individual experience to spearhead a flawless effort. (The vid to the right is a timely reminder of their successes with the global banger; Work.)

Aside from Tech N9ne who is about to release his 14th (!!!) studio album in Strangeulation (with a 15th hitting 2014 also to add), the under the radar but not insignificant news of Freddie Gibbs collabo drop is engrossing.

Gibbs and Madlib's collaboration is no new thing, their triple feature EPs Thuggin, Shame and Deeper did the rounds in '11, '12 and '13, leaving listeners gasping at the prospect of a full-length LP, Pinata.

Madlib, a Cali producer announced Gangsta Gibbs as one of the only in the game would would suit his unique and shifty behind the scenes work.  With the chopping and changing of speed and flows something that is well within Gibbs' repertoire.

The one-worded song titles interest and engage the mind, while the guest work from Danny Brown, Raekwon, Domo Genesis, Earl Sweatshirt, Scarface, AB-Soul and Mac Miller bring everything you'd want to a project like this.  Experience, know-how, youth, unpredictability.

Pinata's potential-filled tracklist

I haven't by any means covered everything this fine spring month has to offer, I've spoke of what engrossed me as I looked forward the next 4 weeks or so - there is more than enough to keep the iTunes banging away through these supposed stickily warm hours.

..and YES, that is looking beyond Officer Ricky.



- Shout to HIPHOPDX with the full scheduled March drops..http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/release-dates/