While the Masterminds’ put the Indy scene on notice with their under-utilized 2001 debut The Underground Railroad. The duo’s sophomore project, Stone Soup, finds Kimani & Oracle in somewhat of a transitory state. Not only has the group ended their short relationship with Nu Gruv and created their own Third Earth Music imprint, but with former [cont.]

Born from the second generation of indy emcees, the Masterminds first caught heads attention with the 1997 single, “I’m Talented”, which boasted a fat Beatminerz backdrop behind. After a string of singles and two EP releases, the trio of Oracle, Kimani, and EPOD  elevate to full-length status with The Underground Railroad. This album represents an evolution of [cont.]

 Live from Area 51 from New York’s Masterminds offers up a challenge to the indie rap world: Come correct or don’t come at all. With the recent glut of independent releases suffering too often from underproduction, weak lyricism and even general laziness, this duo’s slammin’ EP avoids rap cliche’ and delivers straight butta with a heaping [cont.]