Kid Cudi's New Alias: WZRD

I love Kid Cudi's first album, Man on the Moon. Rarely do I like an artist who dabbles in the current pop-rap genre, but every once in a while (an extremely long, seemingly immeasurable, while) there is an artist who impresses me not because of their raw talent or clever approach but because of an intangible quality, a quality that I can't exactly put my finger on. In this case, I can only best describe this quality as honesty. There's something brutally honest about Man on the Moon. The rhymes are not particularly great, the beats are catchy but unsurprisingly soulless. Yet I still find myself sympathizing with many of his views on loneliness, solipsism, and happiness. It also helps when you have the likes of Ratatat and Kanye (ugh, yuck, *vomits*) featuring/producing on your debut album. The second album I won't talk about because it is basically a much worse version of the first.

All of a sudden! Cudi wants to get off drugs, get clean, and make a drastic artistic switch from pop-rap to rock. I know this seems bizarre at first, and it will continue to seem bizarre, because it is. I know this sounds incredibly harsh and mean, but my first response to WZRD's debut album, self entitled, reminded me of a Pink album, or something to that extent. Songs range from fuck the world, to whining about love, to questions of identity. Unfortunately, the music suffers even more. We no longer have production that is rap oriented and influenced by alternative music. We simply have poor rock instrumentation. I wouldn't go so far as to say it sounds like Dwayne Carter is holding the guitar, but it really doesn't sound too far from that derelict.

In summation---

• Pink, with a "man's" voice
• Rapping, instead of belted raspy, pop progressions
• Dissonant and cacophonous sounding rock instruments
• Seemingly unfocused, lame

Hopefully, Man on the Moon III is better and that Cudi doesn't become an artistic victim drug abstinence. 

- Woland