New Jersey White Boy's Rap of the Week: Indicud by Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi is the most tragic story in music today. Some might say Amy Winehouse is much sadder story, but trust me, Kid Cudi is worst. You start off with a young star, making a name for himself in the Chicago mixtape game. He gets signed by one of the biggest, most talented Chicago rappers of all time. He lets the fame, and drugs, go to his head, and ends up a strung out, overconfident, wasted talent. Amy Winehouse was able to find dignity in death; Scott Mescudi has none left.

If there’s a better story about why you shouldn't do drugs as a famous person, Kid Cudi is it. And Indicud is his insanity plea.

Just look at the first single, “Just What I Am”. He starts off with the bridge “I. Need. Smoke. I. Need. To smoke” and the hook “I wanna get high y’all/need it need it to get by y’all”. Then he launches into a verse where he says that he’s punching walls and “fucking up [his] hand”, he doesn't need a shrink’s advice on how to deal with his mental illness (because he can diagnose and treat himself), and that his prescription isn't working compared to his usual routine of being high every waking second of the day. This is the point where family members and friends would step in and convene an intervention to get him some help.

Then in “King Wizard” he leads off with a blunt inhalation and saying “fuck you” to all the people who aren't his family, friends, fans, or “people who care about him”. In other words, if you don’t agree with him, you’re not worth his time. Which the exact symptom cocaine. And speaking of coke, “Girls” comes off as 1970’s coked up, sex-fueled LA or Miami trip through the upper class. Cudi apparently so rich that he doesn't even see any girl less than a 9 because of the places he goes, and he knows he’ll be able to have sex with all of them. It less of “I got a bunch of bitches” brag and more of a “my life is a blur, filled with drugs and sex, which is exactly what happens right people the protagonist dies in every movie like that” song.

The amount of drugs you need to think that you look good in that would make Tony Montana blush

“Afterwards” fits right into the over-confident, creepy, coke vibe of the whole thing. Michael Bolton provides some interesting vocals to the song. At first its’ a cool, fun hook he throws in – “we should go to my home/afterwards, come on/bring your friends/we should go to home/afterward, come on” he belts out in Bolton-y fashion, beckoning these hot and drunk girls to his house after the club shuts down for….  I’m assuming a nap and some prune juice, given his age. But then it repeats. And repeats. And keeps going, taking on a rapey vibe, especially considering how much older Michael Bolton than your average club girl. And then it’s just the beat, cautionary synths, and “bring your friends”. It’s creepy as hell, and makes it sound like he wants to fit a week’s worth of rape/murder into one night because he’s too busy being Michael Bolton to spread it out. It’s supposed to be Kid Cudi’s magnum opus, similar to Frank Ocean’s “Pyramids”. Except “Afterwards” has Michael Bolton, while “Pyramids” is a pretty decent song.

You can hear the cocaine seeping through every note on every track. That gaudy, over the top, flashy-but-not-substantive production. The swagging vocals with not much to back it up (“He will provide me with a nine if I need or a streetsweeper”? Really? You’ll shoot a guy Kid Cudi?). The overconfidence in the “fuck people who don’t agree with me” lyrics. The slurred, mumbled delivery. While I would say that Moon Man 2 was his most weed and depression inspired album, his last 2 albums have just become increasingly drug and psychosis inspired. It’s a tragedy to see an artist that I saw as the king of the sad and lonely turn down a path of utter self-destruction, from the relatable weed smoker to the heavy stoner to the strung out rocker to the relapsing druggy. It’s honestly one of the most poignant stories of real consequences to mental illness and heavy drug abuse on a talented individual in a long time.

Just listen to the difference between “Solo Dolo” and “Solo Dolo Part 2”. It’s insane to hear how much hear heart and honesty and realness and reality and depressing relatability he had on Part 1. Especially when you compare it to the mostly gaudy, pseudo-depressingly flashy elements of LA rich society that he had on part 2. When will he ever learn from the words in his songs that he needs honest counseling and strict rehab. He could have been a contender, and he took a dive in the 4^th to make a few bucks.

I mean, if Kid Cudi’s entire career is an act, a character, a planned stunt of some kind, it’s one of the most long term, impressive stunts I've ever seen, and rivals the Ziggy Stardust saga. I mean, look at his interview with Complex for the making of WZRD – he’s trying to be Jimi Hendrix, and we know where that ended up. And this album would be the centerpiece album in the 4 album concept career. But the thing is, I’m 99% certain that this is real life for him, and it’s horrible to have to witness it.

As a Cudi fan from the first time “Day N Nite” grace my ears so many years ago, I feel obligated to say that he needs professional help, to go to rehab, and to quit all the drugs. It’s done nothing but ruin what I saw as a thoughtful, depressed, talented artist. And it’s certainly depressing.

New Jersey White Boy's Rap of the Week: Man on the Moon: The End of Day by Kid Cudi

(Ssshhhh, I know I’m a day late, but don’t tell Steve. I don’t want to go back to the writer’s cellar. It’s dark and scary down there. I also didn’t go to bed before 5AM the last 4 nights, so cut me some slack.)

I know what you’re saying – “but NJWB, you’re supposed to be providing me with new, underground artists, not mainstream successes”, and to that, I say that this is my goddamn article, and I’ll talk about whatever I goddamn want

What I’ve noticed is that people tend to overlook Kid Cudi’s first album. They look at his mixtapes and his drug-infused sophomore effort. While those are solid pieces of work, they just didn’t blow me away like Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Kid Cudi was the second rapper to gain any traction with me back in the day, after Kanye West finally convinced me that rap could be a legitimate art form. Before that, I enjoyed such amazing bands like Linkin Park, From First to Last, Escape the Fate, and Armor for Sleep. Yeah, middle school and early high school were some rough years for me, musically. (and socially, but the doctor says I shouldn’t talk about - OHGODMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOP).

Without Kid Cudi getting the support from fellow Chicago rapper Kanye West and his GOOD Music label, there would be no Drake, no Childish Gambino, and one can argue that even 808’s and Heartbreak by Kanye West wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for him. Whether you think that’s good or bad, you can’t deny the impact to the industry that he has had since being introduced to the world in the Spring of 2009.

I remember hearing “Day N Nite” and thinking “this will be the future of rap”, and while it took a few years, I think we’ve finally arrived at my vision of what rap could be. No more is the rap album filled with money, hoes and clothes, but you get softer, more emotional and self-deprecating songs like Drake’s “Marvin’s Room”, Childish Gambino’s entire collection, XV’s video game influenced rap, and the emergence of successful rappers of all skin colors. Even Lil Wayne got in on the fad with the…interesting(?) “How to Love”. Basketball players now show up to a press conference in a backpack, black plastic glasses, and a bow tie without anyone thinking twice. And you better believe that I’m attributing that to Kid Cudi.

So what makes Kid Cudi, and more specifically Man on the Moon: The End of Day, so good? It’s a cohesive album. I mentioned it last week when I talked about Kendrick Lamar’s Section.80 (you should totally check it out; the article is really good), but I’ll go a little further today, because, hey we got some time. No need to rush.

It comes across like Kid Cudi had a plan when he made MotM: TEoD. He created a complete story of a boy, Scott, who drifts off to sleep and goes into a various dreams, both good and bad, before waking up excited to take on the day. There are three, 3 song sections, followed by a 4 song section and a 2 song section. Breaks in the sections are narrated by Common, giving a little more context to each grouping of tracks.

The first section is the exposition of the story; “In My Dreams” is slow and hypnotic, as it carries our hero off to sleep. The next 2 songs, “Soundtrack 2 My Life” and “Simple As…” explain who Scott is, and the troubles of his life. The next section, entitled “Rise of the Night Terrors”, comes in and provides us with tracks about Scott’s loneliness and the hard work he, without help from anyone else, put in to make it where he is today. Act 3, called “Taking a Trip”, is the exactly what you think it is; things take a turn for the weird as Scott explores his deep subconscious, culminating in the sexual and soulful “Enter Galactic”. The next section, “Stuck”, is where all of his partying songs are. The tracks in this section, like “Make Her Say” and “Pursuit of Happiness” are more about Scott’s vices and how they make him act, rather than celebrating getting high or drunk or having sex. Then the album is rounded off with 2 songs of Scott waking up, and smoking a bunch of weed, and just being happy to be alive, although the peppy “Up Up and Away”, does have some dark undertones in the lyrics, with implications that this is only temporary, and the entire experience will all happen again the next night.

I know – So what? Who cares? Well, I care. Think about; when was the last time you heard such a cohesive, tight, story-driven rap album? Concept albums come up all the time, although they are fairly rare in rap. And even fewer are as concept-y as this one. I’d even go as far to say that few rock albums are as concept-y as this one. This was one of the first times that traditionally “black” music didn’t just borrow, but embodied aspects usually reserved for “white” music. Between the concept album, the personal and depressing lyrics, and the overall image Kid Cudi developed, white kids could finally find their spot in black culture, and black kids could finally find their spot in white culture without feeling like outcasts in either.

Of course, it also helps that The End of Day is a fantastic album, and definitely should be celebrated (John, get on that). There’s barely a track on there that I can’t enjoy on some level, from the dark beats of “Alive”, to the lyrical density of “Soundtrack 2 My Life”, to the fun, echoing guitars on “Up Up and Away”, it’s album that I can always go back to and love listening to.

New Jersey White Boy's Rap of the Week: Section.80 by Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar is going to be the greatest rapper of all time. Jay-Z; fuck that. Tupac; fuck that. Biggie; fuck that. Nas; fuck that. Kanye; fuck that. And double fuck Lil Wayne in the ear. There, I said it. And you know what? I’m right.

Kendrick Lamar is the biggest rapper right now, amongst anyone who truly cares about hip-hop. He came onto the scene in 2003 at the age of 16 (he’s currently 24), and has garnered a larger and larger following since then. His first major break came late in 2010, when Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (yes, that Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg) heard the song “Ignorance is Bliss” and decided to work with him. This led those two to crown Mr. Lamar as the “New King of the West Coast”, but I think he’s going to be considered the king of the rap game pretty soon.

Last year he released his first official album Section.80 to much critical acclaim, and it made many best of lists, even on websites that have a review a variety of genres, and his next album will not only be just as good, but hopefully reach everyone who even casually listens to hip-hop.

Most rappers excel at one aspect of rap – they have an amazing flow, they have deep and complex lyrics, or they have a certain intangible “realness” to them. Kendrick has all three. He has a ridiculous flow, as exampled by the track “Rigamortus” where he doesn’t breath once during either of his verses. The lyrical content is prevalent throughout all of his songs, with a sharp critique of both society and the excess bread by the Ronald Regan era (which is where he gets the title Section.80). He also has an amazing rhyming and wordplay ability that rivals the best of them, and relies heavily on literary devices usually only reserved for poetry. The most amazing example in any genre of music are the lines off of “Hol’ Up” - “Wicked as 80 reverends/In a pool of fire with devils holding hands/from a distance, don’t know which one is a Christian, damn”. Damn indeed, Mr. Lamar. Damn indeed. And then the “realness”. While people will define realness a variety of ways, Kendrick Lamar fits most of them. As an A student of the historically rough city of Compton, he’s able to mix a positive message of getting out of gang life and bettering yourself with true-life examples. These examples are given with a critical and realistic eye towards the activities he depicts, specifically the depressing “Keisha’s Song”.

Of course, he wouldn’t be anywhere without his beats. Mostly produced by his longtime producer Sounwave, his songs have this fantastic vinyl-y feel that makes you think back to the heyday of rap in the mid-to-late 90’s. His samples create this wonderful feeling of nostalgia that you just don’t get with the house and electronic influenced beats of today. And they all have this gravity to them. They are these deep, soulful beats that hang out in the mid-to-low range, and add to the seriousness of Kendrick’s lyrics.

And speaking of his lyrics, I don’t know of anyone who’s doing it better. Common used to be the king of socially conscious raps once Tupac died (pour out a little liquor for my homie), but now that title has gone to Kendrick (even though, in “Ab Souls Outro”, he says that he doesn’t want to be called a “socially aware rapper”). With his Hiiipower Movement inspiring people on how they should “carry [themselves] in the streets, and just in the world” by following each of the three i’s – hear, honor, and respect. And those sentiments come through with every track. He admits that he was inspired by Tupac, but it’s pretty clear that he’s taking what Tupac did 15 years ago and brings it to another level, far above anyone could ever dream it could go.

One thing I want in an album is cohesion. I love it when each track can be enjoyed on their own, but have tracks that are ordered in a particular manner. It gives a sense that there was a thought process behind the recording of the LP, which shows true artistic talent. Albums like Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of Day is one of my favorite hip-hop because it’s sectioned off (the depressing “My World” and “Solo Dolo” were in one section, the happier “Hyyerr” and “Up Up & Away” in another). Other albums, like The Mountain Goats’s All Hail West Texas, have this flow between each track where you’re not necessarily sure when one ends and another begins, and find out that you’ve heard four songs in a row and not even realized it. You rarely get either of these in rap/hip-hop, but Section.80 falls under this latter category. Each beat has a similar feel (even though they were produced by a variety of people), and they flow nicely into each other, with the occasional narrative interlude. And because K. Dot always has a message about bettering yourself and not falling into hood life, all of his songs have this amazing interplay.

And the best part of his album? It only gains with every listen. Like Elliott, I’ll take a new (or new to me) album and listen to it nonstop for days on end. I mean, if I don’t like it, I’ll stop quickly, but a fantastic album like Kanye’s Late Registration or Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm will stay on repeat, and even when I think I can’t listen to it anymore, I find myself going back to it whenever I want to listen to music (I prefer albums over singles; listening to just a single is like reading only 1 chapter of a book or 1 level in a video game). But eventually, I'll move on to something else, and the plays slow down. And you know what? 3 months after I picked up this album and have played it dozens of times, I still can’t get enough of it. Every listen brings up a new sample, or I decipher a lyric I couldn’t understand before, or a new thought and way of interpreting a song comes to mind, keeping this album fresh, interesting, and amazing every time I hear it.

I decided to let you guys listen to “Rigamortus” because it shows off Lamar’s amazing technical ability. As I mentioned earlier, he doesn’t breath once during any of the verses, and displays one of the best flows in the game, along with an amazing rhyming ability. However, every song off of Section.80 is fire, and should be heard. If you’re looking for the best of the best off the album, listen to “Keisha’s Song (Her Pain)”, “A.D.H.D”, “Poe Mans Dreams”, and “Ronald Reagan Era”. “Cartoon and Cereal” is below and shows off his complexity and willingness to experiment. It’s a leaked track off of his next album.

Listen to him, share his music, and jump on the bandwagon of one of the fastest rising stars in hip-hop.

Track of the Moment: Where Did You Sleep Last Night by WZRD

Rapper/singer Kid Cudi and his long-time producer Dot da Genius have created a new group – WZRD, and have recently put out a new album.

I know what you’re going to tell me – “Eric, it twas not but a pair of evenings ago that thou hast ensured me that thou would not take your Track of the Moment to talk about hip-hop”. I would then immediately punch you and burn you as a time traveling witch, what with your eloquent Shakespearean English and ability to retain memories for more than 2 days. And as your body turned to ash I would yell “But WZRD is electronic alternative rock!”

Now, the reason I throw in the “electronic”, as opposed to the media-approved just alt-rock label they gave them is that, throughout the album, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was listening to a DJ the entire time, even after knowing Mr. Solo Dolo laid down all the guitar tracks. And that’s because I was. While the relatively basic riffs are all Cudi, the rest of the compositions are all Dot da Genius’s computer. Yes, I’m sure that all of the music (besides the strings) will be played live on real instruments, but it doesn’t stop many of the tracks from having an artificial feel. Even bands that use synths and/or electronic drum kits have this feeling that everyone is playing their instrument during the recording. I’m not saying it’s bad; I’m currently enjoying the album. I just can’t, in good faith, call this alternative, lest I lead the faithful FoaLiaBMB readers astray.

Alright, now that I’m done ranting about the media and time traveling women, on to the actual music. Kid Cudi has always had a decent voice, but it seems he was told it was fantastic by too many people, and that’s how the horrible high octaves on “Erase Me” happened (or so I imagine). However, in this Nirvana, Hendrix, and Pixies inspired debut album, Kid Cudi doesn’t stretch his vocal range too far and stays mostly in the lows, where he sounds best.

And most of the music also stays in the low ranges, and, given the heavy Nirvana inspiration, it’s a bit unsurprising. However, Dot da Genius can’t seem to get past his hip-hop background, and uses drum machines and synths to create the rest of the music, and it’s pretty obvious (in a bad way). That said, it doesn’t sound horrible; you can tell they were going for more of a spacey, out-there feel, and they definitely got it. It doesn’t have that same passion as a true rock album, but it’s still in the same chilled-out vein that “The Mood” or “We Aite” are in.

This is an interesting experiment. Changing genres is harder than you think, especially from one that is more vocally focused like hip-hop to the more group-orientated rock. Check out a few songs by them, for no other reason than to just see what they did. It’s not amazing, but it’s better than expected. I’m curious to see what WZRD does for their next album, now that Cudi knows how to play guitar (he was learning to play as he wrote this album).

I decided to go with their cover of Nirvana’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”, so as best to get hits showcase the fact that they’re pretty committed to the whole rock thing, but still put a slight hip-hop spin on it. Past that, I would suggest “Teleport 2 Me, Jamie”, “Live & Learn”, and “Efflictim”.

Also, I threw in a link to a video series chronicling the making of the album, and which includes the various troubles Cudi and DdG went through in the conversion. It’s short and interesting.

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/02/the-making-of-wzrd/