Strange. Weird. Bizarre. Just a few words many use to describe the kind of alternative music Kid Cudi makes. I'll admit, it took me a while to catch on. I wasn't all that "wowed" with "Day-N-Nite" like most folks were. It had to grow on me. But once I heard his 2009 debut album Man On The Moon: The End Of Day, I could immediately see why he has such a strong following of supporters. His style of hip hop is so far left from everything else you hear today. He's able to blend so many different sounds and genre's like rap, R&B, pop, rock, funk, techno, jazz etc. It's because of this that I sometimes like to label him as a "genre-less" artist. Meaning his music is that unique that it's sound like a whole new undiscovered genre. This in short is what drew me more into following his music. Thus, anticipating this. His third album Indicud. First off I want to address the interesting album title which I believe represents what majority of folks might categorize this album as. Alternative indie hip hop. The title is basically two words: Indie and Cudi. Together making Indicud. Pretty cool. Now by far my favorite project from him was his 2010 sophomore effort Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager. I myself believed his raised the bar quite high for himself after that one which had me wondering if Indicud would even be half as good as that. Honestly, I didn't gravitate towards this as quick as I did to the second album but this album was definitely a good project. It basically has every I would expect from a Kid Cudi album. The a fore mentioned genre blending, that dreary, zoned out and "acid trippy" sounding music. The kind of sound that stoners love as most people describe it. All production was good but not great like the last two albums. Nothing sounded too mainstream however. Not even the singles. For somebody like him that's a plus. Lyrics were good as well. Lyrically, Cudi has a way of story telling through these eerie sounding songs that paints vivid murals in your mind. This is a talent a lot of these new MC's lack lyrically and quite frankly is why I like Kid Cudi. Now on to what I liked about the album. I loved what was done with the intro ("The Resurrection Of Scott Mescudi"), the middle interlude ("New York City Rage Fest"), and the outro ("The Flight Of The Moon Man"). All three are eerie and "spacey" sounding instrumental interludes that takes you away to this world that he is in exploring all of these thoughts of his. Sets the tone perfectly. There were two songs where I couldn't decide which is my favorite of the album between the two. The first was "Cold Blooded". This had more of a up tempo dancy kind of beat but I enjoyed it a lot. Even his R&B-ish hook. It reminds me of the the two singles "Make Her Say" and "Erase Me" from his previous two albums. The other was "Brothers". The song just simply talks about his homies (his "brothers") and the trust he has for them. A$AP Rocky and King Chip deliver two good guest verses too. He delivers some more R&B flavor on "Immortal" where he's keeps describing himself as this being with super powers. In other words him being "immortal". Nice song. Though it wasn't as good as part 1 from the first album, "Solo Dolo Pt. II" was still pretty cool. I loved the much more faster paced beat which fits perfectly for the well delivered guest verse from Kendrick Lamar. After a couple of listens I found myself liking "Red Eye". The hook was done wonderfully by Haim and sounds like it could do well on the crossover pop/hip hop charts. "Unfuckwittable" speaks for itself. Right now no one can touch Cudi in this style of music and that's pretty much what he's boasting about when it comes to the title. He goes on to speak about his main goal which is to spread positivity out of negativity. Great song. I loved his dope and aggressive lyricism on "Lord Of The Sad And Lonely". The aggression may be a result of his sadness and loneliness. I had to listen to "Young Lady" a few times before grasping the concept. It was a great song about him describing the perfect woman but how us (men) are a bit intimidated to tell her how we feel for whatever reason. It goes further than that but I'll keep it brief. My negatives about this are minor. "Beez" was actually a good song. I liked it. But my issue with it is the fact it's more of The RZA and less of Cudi. To where it sounds more like The RZA featuring Kid Cudi instead of the other way around. I would have love to hear Cudi spit some lyrics on that great beat instead of being on the hook. I'm on the fence about "Afterwards (Bring Yo Friends)". It's a nine minute track that sounds like a two in one. The first part of it has a up tempo almost 90's sounding beat with fantastic vocals from Michael Bolton. The second part of it is where I was scratching my head as it got slower and more dreary as the beat changed. I would have been fine if the whole song was just the first part but that second part threw everything off for me. The whole thing will have to grow on me though. Well overall, I am very pleased with this album. I still place Man On The Moon II as my favorite from Kid Cudi but there is no doubt that this is up there too. I give this a final grade of a strong B-. While I do like the fact that Kid Cudi wanted to be more independent in making this album and producing the entire thing himself, that may have not been the best idea. Otherwise this would have been on par with the first two projects. The beats were okay don't get me wrong, just not as good as I was hoping. With this new genre that Kid Cudi is discovering, there is no way he will fade away anytime soon. Now I look forward to him landing back on the moon on the next album. End.
Final Grade: B-
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