#Rank kid cudi albums free#

This is the definitive list of The 25 Best Kid Cudi Songs. Whether it's the time when he tried to sing to start a revolution on 'REVOFEV' or when he tried to start a threesome on the track 'She Came Along,' we have immense love and appreciation for all sides of Mr. Every step of Cudi's awesome journey to Mother Moon holds its own significance. It's difficult to compare the poppy delight of a record like 'Day N Nite' to the experimental melancholy of his band WZRD, but someone has to do it. Five albums and five Complex covers later, we're taking the anniversary of Cudi's debut LP as an opportunity to discuss our favorites from the rapper and singer's vast and illustrious body of work.įrom the smash singles to the under-the-radar one-offs, Cudder's music covered a lot of territory over the past half decade. As such, it does not include songs where he is a featured artist.After one critically acclaimed mixtape of his own and a long list of co-writing credits on Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, music artist Kid Cudi released Man On The Moon: The End of Day five years ago today. Because when Scott Mescudi said that he was our “ big brother ,” he meant it in a way beyond the immediate association that comes with kinship.ĭisclaimer: this list encompasses Cudi's solo discography and songs where he appears as the main act. Why not me?”įor all the cliches that get tacked on to being labeled a once-in-a-lifetime talent or the artist who “single-handedly changed my life,” the self-proclaimed outcast unequivocally belongs on the Mount Rushmore of this generation, right alongside the likes of Chief Keef, Drake, Future, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Kendrick Lamar. In the heart-wrenching Facebook note announcing that he was checking himself into rehab for suicidal urges, Cudi reiterated that it was a daily battle, but one that can be won: “I deserve to have peace. A Kid Named Cudi’ is currently available on Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Music minus ‘Day ‘n’ Nite’ while only three of the 16 listed tracks are listed on Spotify. His music is familial, his message universal. He has never professed to having a cure-all for conquering demons, but instead counsels that rebirth is indeed possible, offering forth a lifeline for those who feel as if they have no one to turn to at their lowest. The loneliness, depression, and anxiety stemming from withered relationships and the unforgiving nature of humanity is so much more than just contrived subject matter used to drum up platinum plaques it represents a very real bond connecting Cudi to listeners. He is the unlikely hero who is easy to root for because many people see in him what they see in themselves. Sappy tropes aside, Cudi’s music has proven to be both immensely therapeutic and empowering for many feeling lost and out of touch in a digital world fraught with ample reasons for despair.

While there’s no denying that Cudi’s impact on music and hip hop culture will continue to reverberate long after he decides to hang up his space suit, it is the honesty and openness of his musical approach that has resonated the most with audiences.

He predicted and subsequently fostered many of the dominant musical trends of the past decade, and even penned four songs (including hit singles “Heartless” and “Paranoid”) for 808s & Heartbreak, widely considered to be one of the most important records of the 21st century. He helped carry the commercial viability of synthetic textures into contemporary hip hop, expanding upon Ye’s Graduation formula to carve his own EDM-inflected niche in the Earth’s stratosphere. His meditations on cannabis and explorations of self, described by Jeff Weiss as “ sad robot rap ,” were endearing, wildly original, and shied away from the one-dimensional hyperbole that characterized the music of many of his peers.Ĭudi ultimately grew into his role as the principal curator of a moody subgenre of hip hop that has infiltrated and in many ways defined the scope of nearly everything that followed in the wake of his monstrous breakthrough.

He honed a unique and versatile toolkit that included multi-genre covers and a mix of rapping and crooning, all without pandering or showboating. With Kanye’s cosign, Cudi became more than just the poster child of the blogwave era. None would go on to be more influential than Kid Cudi, a Cleveland native who went from being an underdog with zero career prospects to having Roc-A-Fella’s college dropout on speed dial.

#Rank kid cudi albums free#

The business of rap music was rapidly evolving in accordance with the times, as a new crop of “viral” artists began building dedicated followings by releasing free mixtapes online. Physical media and the old ways of discovering artists were gradually being phased out by an interconnected network of blogs and social media sites like MySpace and YouTube. Looking back, it’s apparent that 2008 was a significant turning point for hip hop. The best of the best from music’s most beloved martian, Kid Cudi.