Album Review: Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi is an impressive and unique Music personality, even if his music isn't really all that interesting itself. His sophomore album "Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager" is captivating not necessarily because of the tracks or the lyrics, but the simple fact that Cudi seems to be the Anti-Hip Hop MC.

In so many different ways he goes against the trends of Rap and even Pop music and seemingly does his own thing. The album does play like a continuation on the experimental debut "Man on the Moon: The End of the Day", but goes deeper into Indie and Rock inspirations.  There's almost nothing about this album that is similar to any other Hip Hop album to be honest, even the two tracks that are the most Hip Hop "Wild'n Cuz I'm Young" and "The End" have more Alternative and Electronic sounds that set them apart.

The rest of the album is definitley NOT a Hip Hop album, but is something different altogether (though not necessarily a new sound). On the album stand out "All Along", and the first single (which seems obviously inspired by Weezer) "Erase Me", find Cudi more or less singing like an Alt-Rock star. Songs like "Mr. Rager" "Maniac" "Revofev" and "The Mood" are also very diverse and different in sound.

The only problem with the album, with over an hour of music some of the songs tend to blend into each other. The gloomy vibe of the songs and their lyrics end up being a little muddled if listened to back to back. Throughout the album, Cudi's lyrics seem to describe a star who still feels unfulfilled. That can be very annoying when every song is about that, but singling the songs out you will find some of the better produced pieces of music from 2010.

Kid Cudi, as interesting as he is, still has a long way to go however. This album is satisfying, but nothing near groundbreaking. And unfortunately the album will most likely be forgotten (it kind of already has been) without any really solid radio staples to help with promotion. It ends up sounding like Indie-Rap, and that might be a good lane for Cudi to try to conquer.

Rating: 3.5 Stars
Best: All Along, Mr. Rager, Maniac