With the release of his newest album Indicud, Cleveland-based rapper, Kid Cudi continues to do what he does best: bring a different aspect to today’s hip-hop. Cudi, who is known for doing his own thing and breaking away from the meaningless mainstream songs that pollute our radio stations, would rather rap about his personal life and his struggles with drug addiction and depression. And while Cudi’s Indicud brings aspects of the themes from his previous albums Man On the Moon: The End of Day and Man and On the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, Cudi promises that this time around the music will be different.
Just like he stated, the album is truly a different feel from both the MOTM’s with more upbeat songs splashed throughout the tracklist. This change can be contributed to the fact that Cudi is not the same person that he was at the release of MOTM II and therefore his music has changed as well. One only has to look at Cudi’s dabble into the world of rock ‘n’ roll last year with his debut rock album, WZRD to see that this is a musician that is evolving and branching out from his original work. Furthermore, Cudi dropped long time collaborators Plain Pat and Emile and decided to self-produce and write most tracks on Indicud; therefore making the entire album solely his own work.
The album begins with “The Resurrection of Scott Mescudi” an eerie track that is full of synthesisers giving it a ‘straight out of a horror film’ feel. The track closes out with the quote, “Once you realize you can do anything…you’re free…you could fly” from Macaulay Culkin’s character, Henry, in the film The Good Son (it should be noted that Henry is a psycopath who attempts to kill his sister.) The quote seemingly adds to the eeriness of the track as well as laying down what seems to be the theme for Indicud: a new Kid Cudi has arrived. After “The Resurrection of Scott Mescudi,” Cudi fulfills his promise of upbeat songs with, “Just What I Am,” which unsurprisingly is about Cudi and fellow Cleveland native as well as long time friend King Chip smoking weed. Cudi continues this trend with “Young Lady” a guitar driven song that is reminiscent of tracks off WZRD, and “Cold Blooded” where a swaggered Cudi flexes his true rapping skills and puts them on full display. Yet while Cudi fulfills his promise, there is a point when it feels as if listeners have put on one of the MOTM’s instead of Indicud. This is no better displayed than on “Lord of the Sad and Lonely” with a rythm and overall feel, entirely out of place compared to the rest of the album.
As a whole, Kid Cudi’s latest album is a solid effort—especially considering this was really his and only his project—and while Cudi has every right in taking on more responsibilities one has to wonder what the album would have been like if he had a little more help. This however does not mean that Cudi disappointed, but rather that he took on bigger challenges and is new to these challenges so the album may not appeal to all of Cudi’s fans. Nevertheless, Indicud looks to be the start of a new Kid Cudi, where this will lead is anyone’s guess, but one thing that can be expected is it’ll be different.
