When Kid Cudi announced back in the summer of 2012 that his new album was going to be his version of ‘The Chronic 2001’ I think many people didn’t take him seriously, to make such a bold comparison so early on is an example of his new found confidence, and whilst being perhaps not on the same level as Dr Dre’s album, it certainly pushes boundaries and is extremely creative. The mood of the album is in complete contrast to his previous albums ‘Man On The Moon’ and ‘Man On The Moon II’ where we traveled through Kid Cudi’s dark and twisted mind, which revealed his loneliness and pent up anger at the world. The atmosphere in this album is a much more positive one and as he explained via twitter this album is ‘the product of him riding through the bad times and now celebrating the good.’ In terms of sound the albums are comparable with Kid Cudi playing with his eery and haunting vocals over unusual synthesised hip-hop beats, using various samples from bands like MGMT and Gorrilaz. The big difference on this project is that he has taken full reins over everything, the production, beat making, design…EVERYTHING. Deciding against using his usual producer and friend ‘Dot Da Genius’ so that he could have full 100% input on the album. This works really well and even with the production not being completely crisp and with the beats being more simple, it creates an artsy and stylised effect, allowing the lyrics and vocals to stand out, best shown on the tracks ‘Unfuckwittable’, ‘ Solo Dolo, Pt II’ and ‘King Wizard.’
His third studio album ‘WZRD’ was the stepping stone, carrying through that indie and alternative rock feel, but this project is much more defined and purposeful. ‘WZRD’ didn’t receive the best of responses and I feel that this was the transformation period with Cudi testing the waters and trying new sounds and ideas out, with now ‘Indicud’ the finished article. I personally thought WZRD was another great Cudi album, but hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. One thing that is current through all of his projects is the idea of taking us as the listener on a journey and ‘Indicud’ is no different, portraying his message and story in his usual conceptual way. Tracks like ‘The Resurrection of Scott Mescudi’ and ‘New York City Rage Fest’ being the perfect funky jams to link the story together. The album has received positive reviews, and rightly so, reaching number two in the billboard charts in its first week. The album will certainly go down in history, I mean what other album will you see Michael Bolton and King Chip on a song together, with the originality and boldness of the project being other stand out reasons, Kid Cudi once again proving that he is a true artist in every way imaginable. In a world where music is losing its way as an art form ‘Indicud’ brings that right back with it definitely being an album you will not want to miss out on.
9/10
First published: April 29, 2013
Where?: https://willgcollege.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/kid-cudi-indicud-review/
Will Garnett 