Released - 9/15/09
Label - Universal Motown Records
BLURB - There was a ton of hype with this record. Kid Cudi's highly touted mix tapes had garnered a ton of steam. I was even lucky enough to see him live over the summer...his show was amazing with a ridiculous amount of energy. There were crazy guest appearances scheduled for this release, awesome remixes and hit singles to be found. The album even got pushed back from it's original August release date several times, just to make sure everything was set up perfectly. This should be the genre mystifying, transcendent album of the year, no? There's one thing missing on this overly marketed, much anticipated album...substance. The whole CD attempts to redefine hip-hop through this monotonous, alternative, down tempo style. It just doesn't work for me.
Rating - 4 out of 10
FULL STORY - Here's my take on this. Over the last few years there has been this sort of indie, hip-hop, alternative, rap counter-culture on the rise. When I grew up, not to sound racist or judgmental, and speaking in the most lamens of terms - but the white kids were listening to punk and skateboarding and the black kids were listening to hip hop and clubbing. Groups like N.E.R.D, Gym Class Heroes, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and such, came into great prominence and reversed everything. All of a sudden you had lots of black kids getting into skateboarding and while not entirely leaving their hip hop obsession, shifted their musical taste to a more alternative, skateboardy, nerdy feel. Meanwhile acts like 50 Cent, L'il Wayne and T-Pain were on a huge tear, dropping tons and tons of club hits. These mainstream names worked their way into suburban America, and all of a sudden every white kid named Zack was standing in line waiting to buy, 'Tha Carter III.' You can look it up - the facts are there. The majority of these huge star, hip hop artists (50 Cent, L'il Wayne, etc.) ended up having their highest sales come from purchases by suburban white males between 15-25.
How does this shift affect Kid Cudi? Well, he came into prominence as the landscape in music was changing. So he not only grew up on hip hop, but he also grew up on indie and punk, as did those that will buy his record. This creates a huge demographic of 15-25 year olds, that like all kinds of music. Where Kid Cudi gets in trouble is trying to appease not only his diverse musical background, but the diverse musical background of hundreds of thousands of potential consumers of his record. 'Man on the Moon: End of Day,' while extremely unique in it's own right, doesn't really accomplish anything. The whole album seems terribly slow and monotonous. Almost every song sounds alike - kind of slow, somewhat emotional, 'look at me' lyrics, with little or no rapping. It's really weird in the sense that this album kind of sounds like a spoken word novel. There isn't a lot of rapping, Kid Cudi doesn't sing, and yet there are these words and lyrics and lines flying all over the place without any real importance on their delivery.
Musically, the record sounds exactly like Kanye West's, '808's & Heartbreaks.' Some parts almost sound stolen. Here's what made Kanye's record great, and Kid Cudi's uninspiring. '808's & Heartbreak' was real, raw emotion mixed with Kanye's, 'fuck-you' attitude. West created a record filled with incredibly basic, yet creative beats and filled them with lyrical themes that really hadn't been explored in the hip hop realm. He didn't care. He was looking for the quickest way possible to get out all of the emotion and stress he was under while dealing with the death of his mother and countless other events that were going on in his personal life. His record was not marketed at all and literally took only a month or so to record and put out. It served as a time capsule for everything that he was feeling at that moment, musically and personally. It 'was' Kanye West at that exact moment.
Kid Cudi on the other hand, obviously heavily influenced by Kanye's musical evolution (he appeared on West's album), and the evolution of music in general, puts out a record that feels forced and uninspired. It's as if he made a product based on what people thought his product should sound like. He's trying to please too many people at the same time, while simultaneously trying to break into the music industry. Take it slow - focus on what your good at, and slowly refine your style.
'C'mon man...Day n Nite and Make Her Say are awesome,' - nameless Kid Cudi fan. I'll give you that one. Keep in mind that both of the songs are old. Both of these songs appeared on mix tapes and as unreleased leaks a while ago. Both of these songs stand out. However, both of these songs ('Make Her Say,' more so) don't gel with the record, as they have a more straight up hip hop feel. This is like waving a donut in front of a fat guy. Look at these awesome hip hop songs, they're awesome...now buy my CD. The whole album, contrary to the singles, is very melodramatic and sullen. He, almost inadvertently, forces all of the attention on to himself as opposed to the music.
The vibe that comes off from this record is so, 'Hey look at me, I'm Kid Cudi, I'm the man, everyone loves everything I do.' Meanwhile, he's really never done anything. I think this album is too ambitious for a debut. It tries to accomplish too many things at once, without really accomplishing anything. Yes, it's a new sound. Yes, it's pushing music in a new direction. Yes, it will appeal to the masses - but don't tell me how great Kid Cudi is. He just showed up two weeks ago, he's not hip hop's messiah. That's Lupe Fiasco. It's interesting to give, 'Man on the Moon' a couple of listens to try and see what is going on, but if you're like me, you'll end up just picking it apart. It's funny reading reviews for this, because every positive review states, 'if you don't like this, then you just don't get the scene.' I beg to differ. Maybe this artist, that every 15-25 year old indie, rap fan adores and has put all of their faith in, just flopped. Don't rationalize a poor effort by suggesting that, 'I don't get it.'
If you're looking for a true genre-bending artist that mixes urban music with alternative and indie, check out Kenna. He was featured in Malcolm Gladwell's book, 'Blink.' The chapter on Kenna revolves around how Kenna mixes all of these different sounds, is infinitely talented and yet has struggled to gain notoriety. His lack of success was blamed on the public's nature to be ephemeral, just giving a quick listen - then moving on. All the while, Kenna was accomplishing everything that Kid Cudi is currently attempting to accomplish...years ago.
And another thing...if you're going to work with MGMT, at least make a decent song.
Tracks
1.) In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem)
2.) Soundtrack 2 My Life
3.) Simple As...
4.) Solo Dolo (Nightmare)
5.) Heart of a Lion (Kid Cudi Theme Music)
6.) Day 'n' Nite
7.) Sky Might Fall
8.) Enter Galactic (Love Connection, Pt. 1)
9.) Cudi Zone
10.) Up Up & Away
11.) My World
12.) Hyyerr
13.) Alive (Nightmare)
14.) Make Her Say
15.) Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare)
No comments:
Post a Comment