You know me, making that classic is more important than anything and making sure the streets are overwhelmed with what I am doing is what is most important. And the minute you do that that's when you can consider yourself a mastermind." In December 2013, during an interview on Hip-Hop Nation, Ross spoke about why he decided to push the album back from its original December 17, 2013, release date, saying: "I'm still putting the final touches on the album. In an October 2013 interview with Hot 97, he explained the album title, saying: "It's all about coming from wherever you come from and take it wherever you want to go to. I think the streets are really going to love this." He also said he was putting "the finishing touches" on a song he wanted to get Bobby Womack featured on. In an October 10, 2013, interview with Civil TV, Ross spoke about the background of the album saying, "In the past year I done seen some things, I done been through some things, so you're going to feel that passion and that aggression. I love making those kind of records, those 'Cigar Music' records, those 'Amsterdam' records, and that was most definitely the energy, but I record so much material - we gotta wait and see." I wanted to make that clear for the ones that paid attention that that's most definitely my vibe. On June 10, 2013, during an interview with MTV News, he explained that Mastermind will have a soulful vibe, saying: "That's most definitely the feel and that's why I made sure I wanted to open at the top of the new year. On January 7, 2013, in a promotional video he revealed the title of sixth album would be Mastermind.
On January 1, 2013, he announced he would release the title of his sixth studio album on January 7, 2013. In December 2012, it was reported that Ross had begun working on his sixth studio album.