CuDi's blank, artless affect makes a more interesting vehicle for these semi-poisonous sentiments: "Hide the pain with some pussy and mimosas," he mutters on "Wild'N Cuz I'm Young". Rager is most compelling when it leaves behind moping alone in your room for moping while you're out on the town- being a coked-up asshole. Vincent sample, CuDi, and emo-rapper Cage in the same room for probably the first and last time. The chorus of "Don't Play This Song" goes: "Wanna know what I sound like when I'm not on drugs?/ Please, please don't play this song," which I would feel comfortable interpreting as pure comedy if he didn't say, "I love the dark, maybe we can make it darker/ Give me a marker," in dead earnest on "Maniac", a song that gathers a St. Blige the track's elements shift slowly and subtly, giving the groove a fluid and hypnotic feel that Cudi echoes with his stuttering "ra-ra-ra-ra-right" delivery. CuDi's lyrics, though, still carry a wince-inducing "Bill and Ted" ring to them. "Don't Play This Song" starts with a somber, harmonically rich string quartet and adds a throbbing pulse and a wailing Mary J. (It also features a Kanye verse that ends with a ridiculous "diarrhea" pun.) On "REVOFEV", he dispenses aw-shucks big-brother wisdom like, "Things might get tough/ No need to stress," over a tumble of piano chords and acid-rock guitar.Įven his trademark sadface stuff, though, is more fully realized. But the music is brighter: "Erase Me" is a chugging guitar-rock song with a big, slick chorus that could have sat comfortably on late-90s alt-rock radio. It's about having a good time." It's not, really, unless he's referring to all his dead-eyed bragging about how fucked-up he's capable of getting. This one is gonna be more playful and fun. After Man on the Moon came out, CuDi told MTV.com that his next album was "gonna be the complete opposite of what Man on the Moon was. Man on the Moon II, the sequel, is still a bumpy listen, but it tweaks his formula enough to at least hint at the massive promise Kanye sees in him.įirst, and most crucially, he perks up the tempo a little. It was hard to find a more self-satisfied and less likable pop record that year. His 2009 debut, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, was a modest commercial success but a mortifying creative face-plant, a compilation of the most two-dimensional art-school-kid clichés (I'm sad, I'm stoned, I'm deep) imaginable, over unrelievedly monotonous electro tracks.
Rager manages to render the jury still out. his second full-length, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr.