If you are a certain age, the first Man on the moon, from 2009, probably meant something to you. Maybe you took your first bong rip while Kid Cudi chanted, “I’ve got 99 problems and they’re all bitches.” Or maybe you sent your high school crush a link to “Cudi Zone,” and they replied, “Your taste in music is sick!” Or maybe you stared gloomily out of your bedroom window and played “Day ‘N’ Nite” repeatedly hoping that one day you could move and post in a Bape hoodie on the corner of a Soho street. Cudi’s music was there for many transformative experiences. And although he has released hardly any memorable solo music over the past decade, he is still seen through nostalgic glasses with the hope that he will one day change lives again.
To Cudi’s credit, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen is not a money grab or a plea for relevance. He does relatively well without it. (This year alone, he starred in the new Luca Guadagnino HBO show, appeared in the third Bill and Ted film, and scored a # 1 single with Travis Scott.) But while Cudi’s heart is in the right place, Man on the Moon III is still like when the old rock band gets back together and their costumes don’t fit anymore.
On the album, the old crew is back – Dot Da Genius, Mike Dean, Plain Pat, Emile Haynie, and even Ratatat’s Evan Mast – and some new faces have been added to the fold: Take a Daytrip, the beat, especially – a duo make that pop up when the big Atlanta producers are too busy. To make the album seem more important, it is split into four acts and tries to follow a loose concept about trying to defeat its demons and find peace. Part of what made Cudi’s music appealing in the first place was that he was an everyone. His stories of how struggles with depression and loneliness affected his relationships were detailed enough to be personal, but also vague enough to be easily applied to someone’s life. That’s no longer the reality, and Cudi doesn’t seem to realize it.
When not trying to be recognizable, Cudi excels. “Girl tells me she don’t know what she wants / Lotta demons creep up, they live under it,” he raps with malaise on the best song on the album, “Tequila Shots,” rattling out a snippet of his life in instead of trying to capture the spirit of the times. Across this familiar sounding Dot Da Genius and Daytrip beat, his tone also catches the perfect balance, not too mundane or overly excited, which is usually the case for him.
The worst thing that happened to Cudi, musically, is the time he spent around Travis Scott. On ‘Damaged’ you tick off the hollow arena-ready production, one-note croons, screeching ad-libs and a disappointing drop off all the boxes of a record that’s generic enough to fit on Jackboys. The same can be said for “Show Out”; Pop Smoke’s verse sounds like it was never meant to be used, the drill-influenced beat is like when fast fashion steals track designs and Cudi’s spirituality is superficial. Cudi seems to think he makes records where the audience at Rolling Loud eventually goes, but he’s more likely to end up at dinner parties hosted by Virgil Abloh.
But even if Cudi pauses the anger, Man on the Moon III is no better. If it wasn’t for real, ‘She Knows This’ would be known as a lazy parody of a Cudi song: it starts with a Michael Cera sample of Scott Pilgrim and ends with Cudi using vocal manipulation techniques that follow the My beautiful dark twisted fantasy sessions. The second half of the album touches all of Cudi’s clichés: “The Void” has the lifeless hum; “Lovin ‘Me” has the empty-hearted collaboration with an indie sweetheart, this time it’s Phoebe Bridgers; “Elsie’s Baby Boy” sings half-heartedly to a miserable-sounding guitar monster that has plagued almost every Cudi record after Man on the Moon II.
And while it’s admirable to hear Cudi talk about his struggles with mental health and addiction, it doesn’t automatically make the music worthwhile. Cudi croons, “Say, ‘I’m waiting’ to die, ‘I’m crying / Many nights I’ve spent screwing up, livin’ a lie,” on “Mr. Solo Dolo III,” a sequel to Man on the moon striking, but its flat vocals and sloggy production just make it disappointing. If anything, “Mr. Solo Dolo III” is only memorable because of the title, which likes it too much Man on the Moon III continues on a legacy built a lifetime ago.
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