By: Michael Bayliss
Let me begin by saying I love Kid Cudi, he has been one of my hip hop heroes ever since I listened to Man on The Moon, and I have been a rabid fan ever since I could remember buying my first iPod at the age of 12, and let me also start by saying how thoroughly ecstatic I was for another masterpiece by Mr. Mescudi himself but even the mighty can fall.
Don't get me wrong there are songs on the album I absolutely adore like 'Embers' or even the albums title track, and I understand the emotion he has put into this album, which is a project purely driven out of passion. However these redeeming qualities don't make up for what it is, and truthfully speaking it's not to great.
In a way my hero is dead. All the thoughts and dreams associated with his words of wisdom I took as life advice mean less now because he produced something that I could only describe as beautifully horrible. The lo-fi production quality to me was on purpose to give his album a certain edgy and "punk" feeling but that doesn't make up for the repetitive song styles and lack of lyricism in which I enjoyed with previous Kid Cudi albums. The Beavis and Buttheads skits in between I found hilarious and did help make up for other aspects the album was lacking but that alone cannot save it as a whole.
Of course I still love him, Speeding Bullet to Heaven fell short of my expectations for him as an artist but his emotionally vulnerable self gives way to a new era of Kid Cudi music. Who knows maybe his next go around will produce something extraordinary. The parallels between punk rock and hip/hop are slim but their biggest difference is either pushing everyone away (punk), or really opening up your people to your personal experiences (hip/hop). Cudi must learn to combine to polarizing forms of music if he really wishes to be taken seriously across other genres, and I hope he does because like a phoenix Kid Cudi will rise out of his embers and produce something spectacular for all.
Let me begin by saying I love Kid Cudi, he has been one of my hip hop heroes ever since I listened to Man on The Moon, and I have been a rabid fan ever since I could remember buying my first iPod at the age of 12, and let me also start by saying how thoroughly ecstatic I was for another masterpiece by Mr. Mescudi himself but even the mighty can fall.
Don't get me wrong there are songs on the album I absolutely adore like 'Embers' or even the albums title track, and I understand the emotion he has put into this album, which is a project purely driven out of passion. However these redeeming qualities don't make up for what it is, and truthfully speaking it's not to great.
In a way my hero is dead. All the thoughts and dreams associated with his words of wisdom I took as life advice mean less now because he produced something that I could only describe as beautifully horrible. The lo-fi production quality to me was on purpose to give his album a certain edgy and "punk" feeling but that doesn't make up for the repetitive song styles and lack of lyricism in which I enjoyed with previous Kid Cudi albums. The Beavis and Buttheads skits in between I found hilarious and did help make up for other aspects the album was lacking but that alone cannot save it as a whole.
Of course I still love him, Speeding Bullet to Heaven fell short of my expectations for him as an artist but his emotionally vulnerable self gives way to a new era of Kid Cudi music. Who knows maybe his next go around will produce something extraordinary. The parallels between punk rock and hip/hop are slim but their biggest difference is either pushing everyone away (punk), or really opening up your people to your personal experiences (hip/hop). Cudi must learn to combine to polarizing forms of music if he really wishes to be taken seriously across other genres, and I hope he does because like a phoenix Kid Cudi will rise out of his embers and produce something spectacular for all.