I’ll walk back that last statement: KIDS SEE GHOSTS is PROBABLY what fans wanted from Cudi all along, even if their commitment to hold him in such esteemed light has lingered far longer than their actual support likely has. If KIDS SEE GHOSTS succeeds, it’s because it looks and sounds like MAN ON MOON-era Kid Cudi at times-particularly the five-minute crying space odyssey “Reborn”-and that’s all fans of Cudi seem to want from him. With KIDS SEE GHOSTS, Kanye seems to understand Cudi’s obsession and, rather than sidestep those interests, he levels into them with samples of Kurt Cobain, production from WZRD collaborator Dot Da Genius, and flourishes of grounding psych burst-outs and zoned-out guitar. It led to a fun but decidedly out-of-place single in “Erase Me,” created a bland surrealness on WZRD, largely informed some of INDICUD’s weakest moments, and was responsible for whatever the fuck SPEEDIN’ BULLET 2 HEAVEN was. Those obsessions with rock stardom and genre bending have always been Cudi’s largest downfall. Never mind that MAN ON THE MOON: THE END OF DAY was a messy and confusing debut with some killer singles those singles have lived in perpetuity with fans that largely ignore the wildly bad follow-up albums and bizarre forays into the worlds of psych and alternative rock. RAGER, a kind of mythos that Cudi is greater than he actually is has been developed. 10 years removed from the mixtape that introduced the world (and Kanye) to Cudi, and eight years removed from the only legitimately good album he has, MAN ON THE MOON II: THE LEGEND OF MR.
Somehow Cudi, in spite of a decade that has frequently seen him release some of the worst albums or projects of any given year, has become a kind of pseudo-internet sadboy, a precursor to the crushing emo rap of the current SoundCloud era, and a face of agony and pain. It’s a good narrative-one that Twitter and Cudi fans at large were quick to focus on during the days before and after the release of the seven-song collaborative project. “Kid Cudi, Prodigal Son Returns Home.” Like a war-torn hero finally touching down on home soil for the first time, that’s how the headline surrounding KIDS SEE GHOSTS was supposed to read, a mid-career turn back towards GOOD Music and the producer who discovered him, Kanye West. This article previously appeared on Crossfaderįavorite Tracks: “Fire,” “Kids See Ghosts,” “Cudi Montage”
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