If you are a certain age, first Man on the Moon, from 2009, probably meant something to you. Maybe you took the first bong beat while Kid Cudi sang, “I have 99 problems and they’re all bitches.” Or maybe you sent your high school a link to “Cudi Zone” and they responded with “Your taste for music is sick!” Or maybe you were looking gloomily out of your bedroom window and repeatedly playing “Day‘ N ’Nite” in the hopes that one day you might come out and come out on the corner of Soho Street with a Bape hooded sweatshirt. Cudi’s music was there for many transformative experiences. And while he has barely released any memorable solo music in a decade, he has still seen it with glasses tinted with nostalgia in the hope that one day he will change his life again.
Credit from Cudi, The man on the moon III: the chosen one it is not a fundraiser or a request for relevance. It has been relatively good without that. (Only this year did he star in Luca Guadagnino ‘s new HBO show, which appeared on the third Bill and Ted and got a number 1 single with Travis Scott.) But even though Cudi’s heart is in the right place, Man on the Moon III it’s still like when the old rock band reunites and their costumes no longer fit.
On the record, the old crew has returned: Dot Da Genius, Mike Dean, Plain Pat, Emile Haynie and even Evan Mast of Ratatat, and some new faces have been added: more specifically Take a Daytrip, the beat- forming a duo that shows up when major Atlanta-based producers are too busy. To make the album seem more important, he splits into four acts and tries to follow a loose concept about trying to defeat his demons and find peace. Part of what made Cudi’s music appealing in the first place was that he was a man. Their stories about how struggles with depression and loneliness affected their relationships were detailed enough to be personal, but also vague enough to easily apply to anyone’s life. This is no longer the reality, and it seems that Cudi does not realize it.
When not trying to be relatable, Cudi stands out. “The girl tells me she doesn’t know what she wants / Lotta’s demons crawl, they live underneath,” she raps angrily on the album’s best song, “Tequila Shots,” which breaks a snippet of her life into instead of trying to capture the zeitgeist. Above this familiar rhythm of Dot Da Genius and Daytrip, his tone also takes on the perfect balance, neither too annoying nor overly excited, which is usually his case.
The worst thing that has happened to Cudi, musically speaking, is the time he has spent hanging on to Travis Scott. In “Damaged,” the arena-ready empty production, single-note croons, flashy ad-libs, and a discouraging drop mark all the boxes on a generic record enough to fit Jackboys. The same could be said for “Show Out”; Pop Smoke’s verse sounds like it should never be used, the rhythm influenced by the perforation is like when fast fashion clothes catwalk designs and Cudi’s spirituality is shallow. Cudi looks like he’s making records for the Rolling Loud crowd, but he’s probably more likely to end up at dinners hosted by Virgil Abloh.
But even when Cudi pauses in rage, Man on the Moon III it is not better. If it weren’t real, “She Knows This” would be known as a lazy parody of a Cudi song: it begins with a sample of Michael Cera’s Scott Pilgrim and ends Cudi using vocal manipulation techniques that should have been removed after the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sessions. The second half of the album reaches all the clichés of Cudi: “The Void” has lifeless buzzes; “Lovin’ Me ”has the empty-hearted collaboration with a beloved indie, this time it’s Phoebe Bridgers; “Elsie’s Baby Boy” has the singing in halves on a miserable sounding guitar sample that has dried almost every Cudi record since Man on the Moon II.
And while it’s admirable to hear Cudi talk about his struggles with mental health and addiction, the music isn’t worth it. Cudi croons, “Say, ‘I’m Waiting to Die,'” I Cry / Many nights I happened to be fucked, living a lie, “in” Mr. Solo Dolo III, “a sequel to Man on the Moon outstanding, but his flat voice and intense production only make him disappointing. In any case, “Mr. Solo Dolo III ”is only memorable for its title, which he likes too much Man on the Moon III it is based on a legacy built a lifetime ago.
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