Kid Cudi Album Review

As promised, our artist Bryson Green delivers his review of Cudi's album. His (Bryson Green's) mixtape is coming soon. I told you it was happening...LAWF x Bryson Green. Oh yea...a collection of up and coming artists may be arranged for a little "Up and Comers Club" type thing (lol)...The LAWF Music Group...? What yall think?

Anyway, here's the homie's review.....

Kid Cudi: Man On The Moon: The End Of Day

Album Rating: 3.5/5

Ok, so times have changed. Hard core rap is wack. Soul samples? Eh, leave it to Kanye. And really…really skinny has replaced really baggy. And amongst this new generation of change (which everyone seems to say about anything happening post Obama) there are young guns on the Hip Hop scene ready to split the shit wide open. I for one am a fan of these young rappers with swagger just as tough as the ol heads; because I quite frankly get tired of Jay Wayne Ye and TI all the time. These new kids on the block are ripped and primed with the tools essential for a complete takeover of the mainstream Hip Hop market…And then there’s Scott Mescudi. The black sheep of the bunch. But with a huge first single to boast, Cudi’s album released on the eve on one of the biggest albums of the year; and sizes up pretty well, if I may say. A native of Ohio, Cudi’s debut album, and supposedly his only, Man On The Moon: End Of Day was released on September 15, 2009. Early into the album the thematics make it seem as if you were listening from balcony seat at the opera. The beats knock with a feel of new soul, and Cudi seems intent making a movie of his life.

About seven tracks in though, in the Night Terror Scene, it becomes obvious that Mr. Mescudi looks to (vividly) drown in his own sorrow, and I fear to watch him would haunt me with the ghost of Phil Collin’s In The Air Tonight. The album feels so depressing at times I feel I should only play it to myself, as if to let others hear it would be spreading misery. A bright sport for many comes with “Simple As”…where hard drums met an ODM sample, and Cudi’s choppy flow and wordplay is crack. Although Cudi does officially give birth to the word “sapping” on this album, the guy does show rhyme skills here and there. On feat Billy Cravens he claims “But Ima be on time, when my stars align.”

Top to bottom, this may be the best album Hip Hop has seen in awhile (and let us not confuse a collection of songs with an album people). I personally like that Kanye didn’t take the reigns on every track, and I tip my hat to Cudi’s selection of beats, each complemented him to the tee. He introduces a new style, along with a new flow that many other “mc’s” are soon to be mimicking. And he has the ear of most hipsters under age 26. Being that he is 26 himself, I can’t help but draw comparisons, and feel that this album may have a College Dropoutesqe effect on Hip Hop…but then that thought is quickly batted from my mind..but it is there. Cudi is good, he will be the new guy to blow, if he keeps at it. But I don’t think he will, and quite frankly I don think he can. I don’t know if he can evolve the way the great artists do over time, and I don’t think he can hit a Man On The Moon: End Of Day every at bat. But I may be wrong. This album gives me faith; faith in not simply Hip Hop, but in music..good music. Faith in Cudi; hell man I feel this kid so much when Heart Of A Lion I feel like its me screaming “No No No No, Yea, No Yea.”

This is experimental. It isn’t rap. Before I’d heard the album I assumed it’d be his mixtape Kid Named Cudi times 10. And I was correct. This is not rap, it’s something else, but I like it. I think Cudi is on to something. He just shouldn’t be so sad all the damn time. I like Cudi Zone Cudi a lot. A whole lot. He has no genre, but he does have a debut album. And it is worth giving a listen because it is worth identifying with. You set the stage Cudi. It’s your time now Kid.