It seems like it's high time to retire the 18th letter. On his latest album (sixth in his career, the second since coming back from a five year hiatus), Rakim feels like an MC out of time more than ever. Not only is the production on The Master uninspired to the fullest (like with Slick Rick's Art of Storytelling, Clark Kent shows that he's not capable of producing an entire album), but Rakim himself wastes his signature, slick, smooth flow on the same rhymes that every aspiring player and shot caller in the rap game is kicking. When the Master sounds like just another Follower, you know things just ain't right. This isn't a horrible album, just a mediocre one and why do we need mediocrity from someone like the R? --Oliver Wang