Tag Archives: Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi returns to his childhood high school for inspirational TED talk

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It’s been fun following Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi’s career over the years, from his humble rap beginnings to his recent exploration into rap-punk-rock fusion. He never lets his fans forget where he comes from–that’s Cleveland, Ohio if you didn’t know. Last February, he went home to give a TED talk at his old high school, Shaker Heights High, where he shared with an excitable audience his experiences growing up in the music industry. For Cudi fans, it’s a brief but intriguing trip inside the mind of the rapper turned rocker/actor. In general, though, it’s an informative speech with an aim to push everyone to make goals and reach to fulfill them. Cudi gets surprisingly candid with the crowd (at one point he even invites up an old high school friend he hasn’t seen in many years) and offers sound advice for his fans, the haters, and all.

Click here to watch the 20-minute TED talk on YouTube.

Kid Cudi drops his next genre-busting effort, ‘Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven’

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The sixth studio album from Kid Cudi, Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven, has finally arrived. Like WZRD (2012), Indicud (2013), and Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014) before it, SB2H continues to defy the musical boundaries Cudder successfully defined for himself early in his career with the Man on the Moon records. Cudi doesn’t consider himself a hip-hop or rap artist but instead an “alternative” one. SB2H emanates alt-grunge-rock vibes with emphasis on guitar strings, not electronic beats. “I’ve ripped my heart out and carved it into tiny pieces of musical madness,” Cudi has previously said about his latest effort. And it’s true: SB2H is an emotional record that drives into the depths of the experimental rapper-turned-rocker.

The 26-track album is split into an A-side and B-side. The first half features singles including “Confused!,” “Judgemental Cunt,” and “Wedding Tux.” Sprinkled throughout are skits featuring Beavis & Butt-Head voiced by the cartoon’s creator Mike Judge; Cudi enlisted Judge to record the new bits in-studio and how cool is that? The B-side includes eight tracks, half of which are demo recordings. Longtime Cudi fans will take solace in the fact that SB2H welcomes back Cudi’s Man on the Moon producing partner Plain Pat behind-the-scenes.

Wondering about Cudi’s tour plans? He was expected to kick things off this month, but due to production issues he’s postponing until “the top of next year.” Our consolation prize? The release of a third single, “Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven,” side-A’s penultimate track produced by Cudi and Plain Pat.

Dig Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven‘s album artwork above, plug in your headphones, and rock out to dat new-new Kid Cudi via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, or Google. Holding out for the physical CD? Cudi promises that’ll release Dec. 18, and you can preorder it today at Amazon. Also coming soon: vinyl and a “special limited run of cassette tapes.” Rad.

Kid Cudi drops guitar-infused single ‘Confused” off his next album ‘Speedin’ Bullet to Heaven’

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It’s been a minute since Kid Cudi shared new music with his cult following. It happened back in early March when he dropped the Ratatat-sampled “love.,” a track that was left on the cutting room floor during the making of his third studio album Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon.

Late last night, Cudder made his comeback by releasing the first official single off Speedin’ Bullet to Heaven, his next album. “Confused” is produced by Cudi and features guitar and bass instruments played by the artist. “Who am I? / Who are we? / Confused, truth is what I choose / Heal I never do,” he croons on top of a grungy beat.

What makes Cudi such a refreshingly unique player in the hip-hop community is that he’s bold enough to reinvent himself on a whim. The third and final installment in his Man on the Moon trilogy is still in the works, and in the meantime he’s been experimenting with a more rock-n-roll vibe, plucking his guitar and traversing in and out genres. It’s hard to call him a rapper these days–Cudi simply cannot be cornered into a single definition. Whether or not you enjoy the deviating paths he’s taken to get here, you’d be remiss not to applaud his resilience to be different.

In a series of tweets from early July, Cudi expressed that “This album is 100% the purest form of my artistic self” and “I’ve ripped my heart out and carved it into tiny pieces of musical madness.” He confirmed that “There are no synths or electronic sounds” on Speedin’ Bullet to Heaven and that it will “consist of all guitar and bass played by myself.” Though the album’s release date has yet to be solidified, Cudi said that it was “98% finished” on the 4th of July. Stay tuned!

“Confused” is streaming on SoundCloud. Thoughts?

Kid Cudi spreads the “love.” with new Ratatat-sampled track

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It’s been a hot minute since Scott Mescudi released new music. Today, I’m enthused to report that the Kid Named Cudi is back with a fresh jam that sizzles with positive vibes and will have you feeling the best kind of nostalgia. In “love.,” Kid Cudi samples Ratatat’s track “Sunblocks”; the last time Cudder collaborated with the electronic rock duo’s music to this degree of perfection was back in 2009 with Man on the Moon’s “Alive.”

What is “love.”? Sadly it doesn’t seem like it’s a single off Cudi’s anticipated Man on the Moon threequel that’s currently in the works. In a SoundCloud post, he shares that it’s a track that was made during his Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon sessions. It’s produced by Cudi, and his WZRD partner Dot Da Genius provided the keys.

With lyrics like, “Don’t be so down, come on young homie / You’ll be OK, you’ll find real love / All of the stories the hero gets lonely / Now is the time to show what you’re made of,” Cudi “hope[s] it brings you some peace if you have a lonely heart out there.” Get lost in it below.

Kid Cudi releases EP-turned-album ‘Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon’

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It was originally imagined to be an EP to bridge the gap between Indicud and 2015’s Man on the Moon III but somewhere Kid Cudi decided to turn it into a full-fledged new album; Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon released digitally on Tuesday, February 25 comprised of 10 tracks. Cudder produced the entire album with help from his WZRD collaborator Dot da Genius. R&B musician Raphael Saadiq is the sole feature artist on the record. Even though it morphed into a full-length album, Satellite Flight still fits in place like puzzle piece in Cudi’s discography; it resumes where Indicud left off and it teases the third and final chapter of the MOTM trilogy. Download Satellite Flight at iTunes today. Alternatively, you can wait until Cudi drops the physical album in stores which he teases will include additional bonus tracks currently not for sale digitally. There is no street date for the physical release but signs point towards later this month.

Kid Cudi is on fire right now. In addition to releasing fourth studio album, Scott Mescudi stars in Need for Speed alongside Aaron Paul (which hits theatres March 14) and it was recently announced that he will star as Ari Gold’s new assistant in the upcoming Entourage movie. Catch up with Cudi in this extensive Complex interview that came out late last month.

Kid Cudi drops track off upcoming EP ‘Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon’

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Before Man on the Moon III hits in 2015, Kid Cudi is dropping a prelude EP called Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. This week Cudder surprised his Cud Fam and released a track from said EP titled “Satellite Flight” co-produced by his WZRD partner Dot Da Genius. It’s got that classic Cudi sound so fans should anticipate the EP to share a similar vibe. Listen to the track in the SoundCloud embed below.

Kid Cudi announces ‘Man on the Moon III’ prelude EP coming soon

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Kid Cudi is riding high on his Cud Life Tour and during his stop in Dallas he dropped some major news regarding his next release. He announced that there will be a prelude EP that will lead into Man on the Moon III, still due out in 2015. “When I give you the release date it will be 24 hours before it’s released.” Interesting marketing move here; fans will feel a surge of anticipation and then hours later they’ll be listening to the new EP. I like it. He went on, “You don’t know when it’s gonna happen but it’s definitely gonna happen in the next three months.” Cheers to that!

Cudi says he’s been working on this EP with his WZRD collaborator Dot Da Genius and it will most certainly feature King Chip aka Chip tha Ripper. In a string of tweets he spilled that the track “Going to the Ceremony” will be on the record along with a never before released remix of his breakout single “Day N Nite” that he made with Dot the day after the original was cut. To hear a snippet of it he says to “Play the intro to A Kid Named Cudi and listen reaaaal close;” see if you can spot it here.

The untitled EP serves as a gap between Cudder’s last album Indicud and the third and final installment in the Man on the Moon trilogy. He says, in fact, that the EP will begin right where Indicud leaves off with “The Flight of the Moon Man” and it will serve as a “seamless connection” to MOTM3 when that comes out in the distant future.

Watch Cudi discuss his grand plan in a video embedded after the break.

[Via DatNewCudi] Continue reading Kid Cudi announces ‘Man on the Moon III’ prelude EP coming soon →

Kid Cudi & other artists design unique beer bottle labels for Beck’s

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Musician Kid Cudi was approached by Beck’s to design a unique label for their beer bottles. It’s an annual tradition for Beck’s; this year six artists from different disciplines were selected to participate in creating limited edition beer labels. Over 13 million bottles featuring custom labels imagined by Cudi, fashion designer and entrepreneur Marc Ecko, artist and musician Willis Earl Beal, multi-medium artists The Date Farmers, interactive digital duo TM Sisters, and photographer William Hundley will sell for the remainder of the summer. Check out this clip from Beck’s starring Cudder as he details the label design he came up with; the three rings that make up the background of the label represent Cudi’s Man on the Moon albums (yes, a third album to close out the trilogy is in the works).

Eye the new designs in the gallery below, and watch the other artists’ videos at Beck’s YouTube channel.

Kid Cudi announces ‘Cud Life Tour’ hitting 20+ cities starting this summer

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Kid Cudi is going on a 20+ city tour starting later this summer and rappers Big Sean, Tyler The Creator, and Logic will be joining him on the road. The Cud Life 2013 Tour kicks off in Salt Lake City, Utah and will travels to major cities like Las Vegas, San Diego, Seattle, Philly, Boston, Toronto, and East Rutherford, New Jersey. Noticeably absent from the current list of tour stops are New York City and Los Angeles. According to all things Cudder source DatNewCudi.com, the Lonely Stoner plans to add additional dates and locations in the fall so stay tuned. For now, jump after the break for more tour details and a link to snag tix. Continue reading Kid Cudi announces ‘Cud Life Tour’ hitting 20+ cities starting this summer →

Kid Cudi drops WZRD-produced track “Going To The Ceremony”

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Out of nowhere, months after debuting his fourth studio album Indicud, Kid Cudi released a never-before-heard track titled “Going To The Ceremony.” In the SoundCloud stream, embedded below for your listening pleasure, Cudder acknowledges that it’s WZRD-produced, meaning his WZRD partner Dot Da Genius also had a hand in the production of the guitar-tinged song. Whether or not it was made during WZRD‘s production window to be left on the cutting room floor remains unknown. On the song streaming site Cudi leaves a note, “it’s all happening.” Is WZRD 2 in the works? I leave you with this.

SpeakSonic album reviews: Justin Timberlake, Kid Cudi, will.i.am, Daft Punk, Mindless Behavior & Beth Hart

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Justin Timberlake made a splash selling over 70,000 copies of his recent release The 20/20 Experience. Kid Cudi finally released the follow-up to his 2010 record Man on the Moon II with Indicud, a collection of tracks with notable featured guests and production by Scott Mescudi himself. will.i.am continues to prove he can exist musically without his Black Eyed Peas group with #WILLPOWER. Daft Punk elicits nostalgia of the ’70s with their highly anticipated album Random Access Memories. Ever heard of pop artists Mindless Behavior and the bluesy Beth Hart? You might want to check out their respective releases All Around the World and Bang Bang Boom Boom.

SpeakSonic delivers with this week’s bite-sized album reviews.

Kid Cudi departs G.O.O.D. Music for his own label Wicked Awesome Records

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In just over two weeks Kid Cudi’s third solo record Indicud will hit stores. It will be his first release on his very own label Wicked Awesome Records. Like Kanye West before him with G.O.O.D. Music, Cudder has imagined his own label with hopes to discover and ignite new creative talent in the world of music and beyond. His friend and frequent collaborator King Chip (aka Chip Tha Ripper) is his first Wicked Awesome inductee. To focus on his label, Cudi has stepped away from G.O.O.D. amicably. He broke to Power 106 LA earlier in the week and explained it like this: “Me and Kanye were actually talking on the phone the other day, and there’s been things I wanted to talk to him about. About me wanting to start my own direction, and he got because he’s trying to start his own new path, and trying new things as an artist. And he was just like ‘Man, I feel you. It’s cool.’ This is just from a business standpoint. There’s no beef with anyone on the label. It’s all love.”

So it’s not like he left on bad terms and won’t ever be collaborating with the Kanye and the G.O.O.D. Music crew ever again. It’s just that he’s going in a new direction professionally and creatively and wants to focus solely on building and nurturing his own label. You can watch Cudi announce the news on the radio in a clip embedded after the break; and you can hear the entire radio session at DatNewCudi’s SoundCloud.

In other news, Kid Cudi has started a new Tumblr where he’s posting brief, looping clips of his recent performances and interactions with passionate fans. He calls it CUDIVHS.com. Continue reading Kid Cudi departs G.O.O.D. Music for his own label Wicked Awesome Records →