Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr Rager! A melodic hip hop quest of sorts, infused with a light electronica feel.
This album is by far the best thing Kid Cudi has put out to date, in fact, I am willing to say it is the third best album of 2010 (after Distant Relatives and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy). Like his first album (Man on the Moon I), you have to listen to the entire album all the way through in order to feel the power and coherence of the music. Unlike his first album, however, almost every song holds its own individually (and there is no annoying commentary by Common). What I mean is, certain songs from his first album, like "Solo Dolo," sound idiotic without it being placed into the larger context of the album, but every song on his new album sounds great in and of itself.
While most of Kid Cudi's music is generally about marijuana (analogy, Kid Cudi: marijuana :: Clipse: cocaine), in this album you can tell Cudi has been experimenting with some new drugs. Granted this may be a poor life decision, but it yields excellent music. (Message to Kid Cudi: We understand your obsession with weed, but stop letting it define your music! You have so much creativity to offer us, you need to move on to other concepts.) The wondrous musical production by Emile and Dot da Genius creates a melodic, mellow feel that causes you to drown in his music, encapsulating your mind in the near perfect harmonization of vocals and instrumental. You have to listen to this album on a good sound system in its entirety (including the bonus iTunes "Maybe" track) in a dimly lit room on a comfy couch. And just let your self coast to the music...
My major criticism of this album is that there aren't many lyrical gems. I really believe he wrote his music operating on a false esoteric pretense. Like Aesop Rock in many respects, his lyrics are incomprehensible and highly inaccessible. It is obvious that the only person who knows what his lyrics mean is Cudi himself. I personally do not think esotericism has a place in corporate controlled, mainstream rap music. Whats the point? Nonetheless, Kid Cudi is not a profound lyricist, nor particularly insightful. It is apparent that he has discovered what he is good at, i.e., chorus lines. Most of the songs off the new album could very well be considered lengthened chorus lines, interwoven with very little rapping; straddling the line between pop and electronica hip hop.
The album does have one major thing going for it, this album does not fit the stereotype of traditional hip hop, i.e., hard beats and rhymes. Its hard to box the album into a genre, which I think makes it that much more dope. Overall, I think this is a really refreshing album, and definitely worth checking out.
Rating: A-
-Abbas Rattani
This album is by far the best thing Kid Cudi has put out to date, in fact, I am willing to say it is the third best album of 2010 (after Distant Relatives and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy). Like his first album (Man on the Moon I), you have to listen to the entire album all the way through in order to feel the power and coherence of the music. Unlike his first album, however, almost every song holds its own individually (and there is no annoying commentary by Common). What I mean is, certain songs from his first album, like "Solo Dolo," sound idiotic without it being placed into the larger context of the album, but every song on his new album sounds great in and of itself.
While most of Kid Cudi's music is generally about marijuana (analogy, Kid Cudi: marijuana :: Clipse: cocaine), in this album you can tell Cudi has been experimenting with some new drugs. Granted this may be a poor life decision, but it yields excellent music. (Message to Kid Cudi: We understand your obsession with weed, but stop letting it define your music! You have so much creativity to offer us, you need to move on to other concepts.) The wondrous musical production by Emile and Dot da Genius creates a melodic, mellow feel that causes you to drown in his music, encapsulating your mind in the near perfect harmonization of vocals and instrumental. You have to listen to this album on a good sound system in its entirety (including the bonus iTunes "Maybe" track) in a dimly lit room on a comfy couch. And just let your self coast to the music...
My major criticism of this album is that there aren't many lyrical gems. I really believe he wrote his music operating on a false esoteric pretense. Like Aesop Rock in many respects, his lyrics are incomprehensible and highly inaccessible. It is obvious that the only person who knows what his lyrics mean is Cudi himself. I personally do not think esotericism has a place in corporate controlled, mainstream rap music. Whats the point? Nonetheless, Kid Cudi is not a profound lyricist, nor particularly insightful. It is apparent that he has discovered what he is good at, i.e., chorus lines. Most of the songs off the new album could very well be considered lengthened chorus lines, interwoven with very little rapping; straddling the line between pop and electronica hip hop.
The album does have one major thing going for it, this album does not fit the stereotype of traditional hip hop, i.e., hard beats and rhymes. Its hard to box the album into a genre, which I think makes it that much more dope. Overall, I think this is a really refreshing album, and definitely worth checking out.
Rating: A-
-Abbas Rattani
RSS Feed