Man on the Moon: The End of Day
By
“Kid Cudi is at the vanguard of a game-changing new generation of artists,” said Universal Motown President Sylvia Rhone. “He crosses musical boundaries with an appeal that goes beyond genre, format, race, language, and culture. Cudi lives easily in the hip-hop, indie rock, pop, and R&B worlds – a diversity that shows in his innovative music and his all-embracing persona. He is a born storyteller who brings a positive, life-affirming message to his brilliant lyrical flow and compelling music. There are no clichés in what Cudi does. He is a breath of fresh air – a dynamic and important new voice, not only in the next phase of hip-hop, but as a groundbreaking trendsetter who represents the future. I am thrilled to welcome Kid Cudi into the Universal Motown family.” KID CUDI released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, in July, 2008 as a free download sponsored by New York streetwear company 10 Deep, leading to an introduction and signing to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint, and in turn, to Cudi’s co-writing of four tracks on the platinum Kanye West album 808s & Heartbreak, including the Top 5 single, “Heartless” and stepping out in a featured vocal on “Welcome to Heartbreak.” He followed this up with his first Official single; “DAY N NITE” “day ‘n’ nite” dominated with #1 rankings at multiple radio formats.
No related posts.
album review
I give kid cudi a lot of props for creating something new and unique that perhaps no rapper before has done. The album demonstrates interesting beats and rhytms that serve to change the genre as we know it today. “pursuit of happiness” and “day n nite” are definitely worth listening to. BE SURE to check out an up and coming rapper, FACE, who just released his first demo and is releasing his first original album later in 2010. FACE is a very talented rapper who has the potential to make a name for himself in the industry. Check his official website out:
[...]
Mind Expanding..the future for hip hop?
This is an amazingly creative, artistic, and truthful album.
The beats range from psychedelic, laid back, futuristic, inspirational,
motivational. His lyrics are about “vulnerabilities
and other human emotions and issues never before heard so vivid and honest”.
A must have, this might set a new precedent for hip hop instead of always talking
about killing people, etc.
Fav songs Alive, Cudi Zone
The Hottest Rapper Around
Ever seince hearing Kid Cudi’s “Man On The Moon” song from his “A Kid Named Cudi” mixtape, I wanted to see what more this rapper could do. Day N Nite sealed the deal for me, and I knew I found my new favorate rapper. Man On The Moon:End Of Day is easily the best album of 2009, featuring “Different” beats and lyrics than you would expect from a hip-hop artist. I can relate to almost all of his songs, and im sure im not the only one. Kanye West laid down some pretty fire beats as well for this album. Overall Kid Cudi has the style and swagga that may cement his name into the minds of all hip-hop fans. 5/5.
Great album!!
If you are in the mood for something different in hip-hop (as I am) then buy this album. If you looking for the same contrived, processed rigamarole then this album is definitely not for you. Much like Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreak, you have to be ready to open your mind and embrace something new. If this doesn’t sound like you, go and pick up 50′s new album… I’m guessing that might be more your tempo.
With that said, Man on the Moon is an incredibly moody album. It can be depressing yet enjoyable (oxymoronic, I know), but then flip the script and come off as upbeat yet laid back. A number of the songs in the first half of the album have a sort of brooding vibe to them and give you an idea of who Cudi is as a person (check out “In My Dreams”, “Solo Dolo”, “Heart of a Lion”) and throughout it continually crosses between moody, new-age hip-hop (“Soundtrack 2 My Life”, “Day N Night”, “Hyerr”) and more upbeat tracks (“Enter Galactic”, “CuDi Zone”, “Make Her Say”).
If you are ready for a journey, take the plunge and buy this album. I personally enjoy Man on the Moon very much and I keep this CD in heavy rotation in my musical starting lineup. Be ready for a departure from the norm, and please folks, embrace the martian…
Kid Cudi Is Just Plain Good Music!
I’m going to have to agree with every 5 star review on here. Kid Cudi is the greatest new artist out right now. His music is so innovative, he is like nothing out there. He is beyond hip-hop, he is “dat new new.” Album of the year for sure in my book. Every song on this album is perfect, which is hard to find these days. So you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t buy this album. Hope Kid Cudi keeps coming out with songs because he is beyond great. How could you not like the guy? Great at rapping, singing, song writing, his production is perfect…. Just buy this. Kid Cudi, Thank you so much for this, don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for a perfect album but you gave it to me.
not usually a hiphop person
I am not usually a hiphop music lover but I heard Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” from his Man on the Moon album, and I was hooked. This became my new favorite song. I like the rest of the album also. He has a wonderful soft style and you can actually understand the lyrics. It’s the first time my grandkids have wanted me to burn a cd for them.
Futuristic Work - This KiD is The Real Martian
KiD CuDi brilliantly combined hip-hop, classical, trance n electronica and he delivers lyrics full of determination and sympathy with a lazy but very exciting flow. This record is very creative, unique and futuristic… like a hybrid of Pink Floyd, Beethoven and Kanye West.
“The sky might fall” but this boy has this heart of a lion that it can’t stop him from flying hyeeer and landing on the moon on a pursuit of happiness.
My top 5 (very hard to make a choice):
1. The Sky Might Fall
2. Enter Galactic – If you can’t do what you imagine then what is imagination to you?
3. The Soundtrack to my life
4. As Simple as… (leaves you expecting another verse in vain)
5. My World / In my Dreams
I think he really thought outside the box and I applaud him because few artists can craft such a risky concept especially for a debut album. Hope he keeps innovating his music once he’s done exploring the moon and comes back to planet earth… For now PRESS Enter Galactic and fly Hyeeer
Cudi sets a new precedent
There is no desire on my part to put artists in a box, however, I think Cudi has an alternative-hip-hop album on his hands. This record isn’t rapping in the traditional sense; but then again, it is rapping in a stream of consciousness sense, along with spoken word type singing. Yes, Kid Cudi is sort of singing and the fact that he doesn’t sound at all professional is part of the charm.
Everything about this album is modernistic. Cudi has (rapper) Common narrating; The songs are presented in a thematic order and Cudi is formally introducing himself through all of his songs, beginning with “Soundtrack 2 My Life.” Some songs sound like a complete freestyle such as in “My World.” A freestyle that is made to sound effortless, yet stellar in its performance.
This entire record is taking rap in a much needed, different direction. There is explicit content, yet on several of the songs,I don’t hear it. Could it be because Kid Cudi has something to say and I’m actually focused on it?
Last, but not least, Cudi has his own sound. He had a few featured artists on board but they don’t overpower him.
Brilliant; Something NEW and Fresh for 2009
On his much anticipated debut album, Kid Cudi truly ‘brings the heat’. A conceptual album by nature, it takes a couple of listens for the true genius and beauty of this album to open up to the listener. While in the same vein as Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, it easily trumps that album in construction and excitability of material. Odd and maybe sometimes too odd, there is an unrequited genius about Man on the Moon, even for the listener who may think Kid Cudi is simply mad. ‘Mad’ genius proves to be more accurate.
The album opens up with the ‘sleepy-sounding’ “In My Dreams”, which proves to be nothing less than curious. Instantly, “In My Dreams” makes the listener think and question where Kid Cudi is going with the entirety of the album. The production is mystical and pleasing and something soothes the listener about this odd track. Great, confusing, minimalist, “In My Dreams” opens the album strangely, yet very captivating. A narration by rapper Common leads into “Soundtrack 2 My Life”, a slightly more accessible track than “In My Dreams” (for the more ‘straight-forward’ listener). Kid Cudi’s flow is great here and his sung vocals on the hook are equally enjoyable. “Soundtrack 2 My Life” proves to be one of many standouts on this filler-free album. Autobiographical, Man on the Moon could be the hip-hop interpretation of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon.
“Simple As” repeatedly loops ‘A,B,C,’ and ’1,2,3′ at the forefront, obviously affirming the title ‘Simple As’, ingeniously. Odd, spacey, stupid and/or brilliant, “Simple As” manages to captivate one’s attention from start to finish. “Solo Dolo (Nightmare)” is definitely a valedictory performance from Man on the Moon. Exceptionally performed by Cudi as well as exceptionally produced, “Solo Dolo” is different, ‘stream of conscious’, and plain different. By all means, it is nothing less than brilliantly conceived. Mostly sung, though spoken in pitched vocals at specific times, there is something that connects with the listener within this mysterious fourth track.
“Heart of a Lion” finds a slightly more hardcore Kid Cudi, obviously representative of the title ‘Heart of a Lion’. The song lays as a tone poem lays within the orchestra trying to convey a portrait musically. Cudi excels with flying colors. “My World” featuring Billy Cravens again confuses, shocks, and impresses the listener with more autobiographical information about Kid Cudi. “Day N Nite”, the left-field smash hit that helped propel Man on the Moon to a #4 bow on the Billboard Charts remains timeless here. It could be argued its the album’s best track, but with so many interesting, cutting edge cuts, it proves to be just one of the best of Man on the Moon.
“Sky Might Fall” is equally as captivating as anything else. “Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part 1)” proves to be as strange as the oddest tracks (“In My Dreams”, “Solo Dolo”, etc.), but is also as solid as everything on this fine album. “Alive (Nightmare)” featuring Ratatat, is catchy and accessible – well as accessible as this conceptual album goes. “CuDi Zone” is another production showcase and also another solid performance from Kid Cudi, though it is showstopping proceeding tracks “Make Her Say” and “Pursuit of Happiness” that are stronger. “Make Her Say”, which lifts an obvious Lady GaGa sample (“Poker Face” from The Fame, features an all star cast (Kanye West and Common). Ingenious, it has the distinction of being one of the best from Man on the Moon. Similarly, the MGMT featuring “Pursuit of Happiness” is haunting, strange, and beautiful. Along with “Make Her Say”, “Day N Night”, and “Solo Dolo”, it is among the best of Man on the Moon.
The rest of the album ends strongly. “Hyyerr” has a smooth, soulful quality to it while “Up Up & Away” closes the strange yet interesting narrative that Cudi has so intricately developed on Man on the Moon.
Overall, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day is a brilliant album, deserving many accolades. It is one of few hip-hop albums of today that stretches the boundaries of the genre past lyrics about clubs, women, and drugs. Conversely, it can be argued this album transcends hip-hop and isn’t truly a ‘rap/hip-hip album’. All trivializations aside, this is one brilliant album that I personally will be playing for years and years to come.
Hip-Hop Becomes Creative Again.
To say Kid Cudi is the next best rapper in the game is a lie. To say Kid Cudi can save Hip Hop in its slump is a lie. And to even say that this album is revolutionary to Hip Hop is also a lie. BUT, this album IS a small step to Hip Hops rejuvination towards becoming an actual respected genre again. Kid Cudi has actually been around for quite some time, I’ve heard his song “Day n Nite” way before the song got overplayed on the radio, this song actually came out late 2007 when I was still a sophomore in High School. Pratically 2 years later and the song became a new hype for people to jock and say they so called “heard it first” type thing. Kid Cudi’s rap style is a little reminicent of Kanye’s old style but a lot more wierder, he sing-songs his raps but it works. I have to give it up for the production on this album, its so new and refreshing to hear, its spacey atmosphere full of synths and hard hitting bass is a nice change of pace from the god awful predictable productions in Hip Hop nowadays. This album dares to be different, Kid Cudi’s style is a rare find, he isn’t your typical rapper when it comes to rapping, he is the type to paint a picture vivid and make you wonder and think about what he is talking about in his lyrics, unlike Lil Wayne which is straight forward attacks with lame metaphors. Man on the Moon: The End of Day is an album that deserves recognition in the music industry, this is the type of music that Hip Hop should be “different and intuitive”. BUY THIS ALBUM
Favorite Tracks:
1) Soundtrakk 2 My Life – love the beat and Kid Cudi’s delivery when he raps. Basically the title tells it all, whether or not it is true, the story is a re-telling of his life as a boy growing up.
2) Simple As… – The track is a great catchy upbeat ride. The line “Simple As that, Simple As that for ya Simple Ass.” may not make sense but in time will be clear as day. Cudi’s lyrics are just plain funny, simple as hell but hilarious.
3) Day n Nite – the overplayed song everybody should know. This song has actually the most simple produdtion out of the entire album. This may actually be the weakest song on the album, but remains my favorite cuz of the catchy simple beat and also this is the very first track that introduced me to Kid Cudi.
4) Up, Up & Away – the final track is the most epic song in my opinion. The production is the most different from the rest of the album, it takes a Coldplay approach with a bumpy beach boy like sample. The lyrics explains Kid Cudi’s personality humorously “I’ll be Up Up & Away, cuz they gon Judge Me Anyway, So, Whatever” this shows me the way the only thing the album shows its true motive as an album. Kid Cudi is a STONER foreal haha. This whole concept album can be taken as a High Kid growing up.