KiD CuDi Is Back to His Old Self Again with ‘Indicud’

Scott Mescudi aka KiD CuDi landed on the music scene in 2008 and put out his debut album in 2009, Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Since then he’s certainly taken off — from his brief stint on HBO’s now defunct series, How to Make it in America, to signing with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music and working on the Cruel Summer compilation album. But, like most of you guys – I’ve been patiently waiting for Scott to hop back into the realm of producing a new solo album. With Man on the Moon, Scott debuted a unique sound to the world that had never been heard before. His second album didn’t match up to the bar that his debut set, as a fan, and I think even may even Cudi know that. He moved from the high energy, positively-themed Man on the Moon, to a much darker toned second album: Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, which coincided with some of the personal and public issues he was facing. Even after that, most die-hard fans dismissed his so-called “passion project” with producer Dot Da Genius, WZRD which debuted the single Teleport 2 Me, Jamie and much more crossover rock sound that we’d heard from Scott.

But now, just after severing ties with his G.O.O.D. music label Cudi has been on a PR warpath for his new album Indicud which officially drops today. It was actually supposed to be released much later in the month, but do to it leaking pretty early he decided to push the date up.

Three singles for the album we’re released by Cudi himself: Immortal, King Wizard, and a new stoner anthem, Just What I Am with Chip the Ripper. They all give just a brief glimpse into the full content of the album. First off, Cudi is now producing the majority of his own work, so he’s gravitating back to that sound that brought him to fame and made his first album a classic. Therefore, he even went so far to call this album his “version of The Chronic 2001” in the idea that he plays various roles behind the scenes from producer to guest feature to even songwriter. Now with all that in mind, it’s easy to break down the title Indicud and understand that this is an “independent” or “indie” version of Kid Cudi as he releases the album through his new label imprint, Wicked Awesome. One glance at the production credits, and you’ll see that Scott produced the entire album himself except for two tracks in which he received support from ex label buddy Hit-Boy, and long time friend 88-Keys. Since his debut in 2009, it seems like Cudi has finally learned the ropes and is ready to embark on an entirely new journey with his classic sound that helped to generate a massive fan base.

Taking the similar approach to his first album, Indicud tells an entire story, just like MOTM I which was narrated entirely by Common. Each track was placed and position with care to fit neatly inside the packaged idea Cudi had in his head. So as I got my copy of the album, I sat down to listen to it from beginning to end like a book. He kicks off the album with the self-produced eerie instrumental, The Return of Scott Mescud. From the jump he paints the vivid picture that he’s officially back on the scene. The album deals with a range of topics from his stint with liquid cocaine, his daughter, making his return to smoking, to the pressures of being a huge artist and putting out great music. All in all, Scott puts together a great project that restores our faith in new music these days, as he continues to push the boundaries of the genres he operates within. Although it’s difficult to say that Indicud is BETTER than his first LP, I believe it’s fair to say that they are on the same level. So if you fell in love with 2009 Kid Cudi for his free loving, contemporary tunes – this 18 track album is for you, and you won’t be disappointed.

Some notable tracks on the album:

Solo Dolo w/ Kendrick: Cudi reprises one of his most famous songs ‘Solo Dolo’ with a part too and a verse from everyone’s favorite LA rapper, Kendrick Lamar. It’s awesome to see Cudi reflect on his career with this Solo Dolo theme.

Girls w/ Too Short: One of the most interesting collabs on the album, Scott nabs Bay area representative Too Short for a song about the ladies. A catchy hook, and stellar verse from $hort make this a windows down, summer jam.

New York City Rage Fest: It’s awesome when an artist can flex their production skills as Scott does with the house music oriented ‘NYC Rage Fest’

Red Eye w/ HAIM: The girls of HAIM are absolutely taking over indie music these days, so it’s no surprise that Cudi nabbed them for a stellar feature. This is one of the songs that Cudi mentioned he would be doing more behind the scenes work, as 90% of the song features vocals from HAIM.

Brothers w/ A$AP Rocky & King Chip: This is clearly going to be the stand out jam from the album. With a stellar bass heavy beat from Scott himself and guest verses from his buddies King Chip and A$AP Rocky, this might be the most catchy tune of all of them!

Burn Baby Burn: One of the biggest topics for fans was Cudi’s decision to stop smoking. On ‘Burn baby Burn’ he lets the fans know that he’s back to the hazy habit that made him famous.