Earlier this month, Kid Cudi announced his surprising departure from Kanye West’s label, G.O.O.D. Music, and his plan to embark on a solo journey. When Cudi announced Indicud last year, he said that his upcoming album would resemble Dr. Dre’s classic The Chronic 2001. Similarly to Dre, Cudi planned on producing the album alone and featuring a variety of artists. However, Indicud is no 2001.
Cudi’s decision to act as the project’s sole producer might not have been the best. He simply lacked the production skills necessary to drop a classic album. The album did not feature a wide variety of artists, only four other rappers. In trying to morph together the two musical sounds from his past, rap and rock, Cudi produced an album like The Chronic 2001 on acid.
Cudi’s lack of experience in production holds Indicud back from being the breakout album that he had hyped it up to be. The beats throughout the album are either very monotonous or erratic at times, which cause the lyrics to get swallowed up in the boring and annoying noise.
The highly anticipated song “Solo Dolo Part II” serves as the perfect example of the lack of experienced production. With the help of producers Emile and Dot da Genius, who produced the standout track “Solo Dolo” on Cudi’s debut album, it would have been possible for Cudi to create a compelling sequel to his first song. But instead, the galactic-sounding beat somehow manages to ruin Kendrick Lamar’s highly anticipated verse.
However, these basic drumbeats do enhance several of the songs, allowing the vocals to shine. Maybe this is his point, to let the lyrics speak for themselves.
The problem is that the lyrics contain nothing significant. With Cudi, you can always expect to hear the exact same messages and subject matter — depression. Nothing about his lyrics is powerful.
Once again, for the umpteenth time in Cudi’s career, he only spits flows about being depressed and being carefree of all criticism. Titles of songs such as “Unf-ckwittable,” “Just What I Am,” and “Lord of the Sad and Lonely” pretty much tell it all. It was genius the first couple times in his debut mix tape A Kid Named Cudi and his debut album Man on the Moon: The End of the Day. However, in order to thrive in the long run, he must learn to adapt his lyrics and subject matter with time.
Although Indicud initially disappointed me and failed to live up to its hype, it gets an A-plus for creativity. Time after time Cudi manages to work on these indie projects, regardless of any mainstream criticism. Cudi challenges himself by taking on an entirely new skill-set and concept rather than sticking to the same sounds and musical moods that his Man on the Moon albums consist of. Indicud will definitely grow on me, simply because it is an album with a lot of material to soak in.
