My favorite musician, Kid Cudi, just released his newest album, A Speeding Bullet to Heaven. I hadn’t been listing to Kid Cudi to often lately although he was my idol in 2010. That was the year he dropped his debut album Man on the Moon II. This albums has been then anthem for many teens across the country for many years after its release. That’s why I think I should talk about it. This rapper who was just coming up out of Cleveland, dropped a mixtape before this album which got him some of his initial buzz he had, but he didn’t really take off till Man on the Moon II. It may have helped that his first mixtape which wasn’t super popular, was still extremely good and super underrated. One certain super star noticed that his mixtape was good. A few months after it was released Kanye West invited him to his studio to come work with him. After Kanye had just a few studio sessions with him he decided that Kid Cudi would make a good addition to his music label.
After getting picked up by Kanye, Kid Cudi was on a shooting star to success, with his popularity growing more and more every single day. Being able to work with Kanye West and his team of producers Kid Cudi was able to get mass amounts of studio time. Plus having a few Kanye West features on an album no matter how good it is can make it explode with popularity. Kid Cudi was working with some of the best and most famous producers of the past decade or so, sitting there with them helping them make the beats he would be rapping over. Kid Cudi has an amazing singing voice that he works into nearly all of his raps, mostly as the chorus but it all works together to sound great. He made sure all of the beats he would be rapping over would create perfect harmony from when he’s going his hardest rapping like he’s the king of hip-hop or when he mixes it up and lets his singing voice shine. His voice works like butter on toast, his flow worked perfectly for his singing to rap transitions. The album took everyone by surprise, it came out in 2010 and was almost instantly deemed a classic in the hip-hop community.
Even though nearly everyone just sees rap as a one sided story. Where they rap about their wealth or the amount of drugs they do, or maybe about the crazy amounts of girls they have “relations” with. Kid Cudi is nearly the polar opposite, don’t get me wrong he has his club bangers and less influential songs. But most of his songs he releases put out positivity, being happy with life, and not letting others get in the way of his dreams. “I guess I'm cool and those happy thoughts in my head I'm feeling like I'm Peter Pan minus the tights and the fairies happy to see how far I've come to the same place it began my dreams and imagination. Perfectly at peace so I move along a bit higher” One of his most popular songs “Soundtrack to My Life” he talks about the struggles he went through as a kid and how he only could rely on his sister out of his three siblings. He also talks about how he’s never been the same after his father died, and that he “Try to think of myself as a sacrifice so that the lil’ kids aren’t the only ones who are up at night.” Kid Cudi unlike most rappers makes his music rather relatable to his listeners which is what really helped bring him to fame. But you really have to listen close and not just look at the surface, he even talks about that saying “Avoid the obvious context of the song”. He also speaks about how being famous isn’t what he was hoping it would be like, he raps about not being able to stop his blog because he would be an “A-hole” and that he hopes he can settle down one day because he’s always being put on tour.
After this album was released he continued with his state side tour before he left for his worldwide tour. His touring went on for nearly a year or two before he finally was done with his planned tours. After settling down back in Cleveland he was confronted about someone remixing his song “Soundtrack to My Life” to be used in a movie, this movie Project X, helped him retain his fan base even when he was working on his music instead of releasing music or touring. This movie made Kid Cudi a pretty penny in return. This movie also brought in a much wider fan base for Kid Cudi, which helped him and hurt him. Not long after this movie was made he released another album, Indicud. Though it was still a good album it was different than what most people were hoping for. Mostly because after touring and once he got home he decided to take up a life of sobriety which he said cleared his mind and brought him enlightenment. This enlightenment he found changed his music, he began to make nearly all his beats and began to sing more, he’s a good singer don’t get me wrong, but there is most certainly better singers out there. But his newly brought in fan base from the movie Project X didn’t really enjoy this album, they mostly knew him for his remixed version of “Sound Track to My Life” which is a good song but it’s made for parties or the club scene. Indicud was more of a sitting out by the pool in the sun having a grill out with friends type of music. So a lot of these people were looking for an album that they could party too, but it’s just not what they got. With his newest album Speeding Bullet to Heaven, he decided to say screw it to that fan base and made the entire album comprised of almost only his singing vocals and guitar work.
When I compare Man on the Moon II to the rest of his work I would give it a solid nine out of ten. Comparing it to almost any other rap album ever though its and easy ten out of ten. This classic hip-hop album hasn’t been forgotten at all, the hip-hop community still praises it. He just made himself so relatable it was very different for the time. His ability to rap about his life and struggle is flawless. He is an amazing artist and deserves more credit than he will ever get. In my opinion I feel like he should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame right next to rapper legend Run DMC, who is a classic hip hop legend. Kid Cudi himself is a legend he always has uncontrollable energy which comes through in his songs and his live shows.