Written by: David Williams

Score 8.9/10

“Kid Cudi is one of the main dudes I listen to all the time. He saved my life,” said Travis Scott in a 2016 interview on Hot 97, echoing a sentiment that countless members of Travis’ generation share—a massive emotional debt to Scott Mescudi for the music he created more than a decade ago.

On September 15, 2009, a musical anarchist named Kid Cudi premiered his first full-length LP: Man on the Moon: The End of Day. His debut was a commercial success and critical success, selling well over 2 million copies to date while also spawning 3 Billboard Hot 100 Hits.

He created a genre-morphing record that touches on thoughts of loneliness, weirdness, and depression. The album is just as relevant today as it was upon initial release, a collection of music that resonates like a siren song for kids all around the world feeling broken and disenfranchised, connecting the kid from Cleveland with generations of fans all across the globe.

It was clear to see the potential that Kanye West saw in the GOOD Music signee from his introduction to the world on 808s & Heartbreaks; Cudi was from another world.

Attracted to stepping outside the box and going down his own path, he turned to different genres of music for influence on his first album, discovering a love for 70s British Prog-Rock Bands like Pink Floyd and Electric Light Orchestra. These groups helped him expand the glimmering scale and scope of his sound, with some help from the electronic indie-rock with fantastic features from Ratatat and late-aughts legends MGMT. The first installment of Man on the Moon mixes all of these styles together within one supergalactic pot, sonically brewing a genre-bending galaxy of something original that an artist in the hip-hop universe had never created before.

Hip-hop in 2009 was highly judgmental, with most songs generally about artists delivering braggadocious lyrics about either stacking money to the ceiling or being impervious to pain, usually coming from bigger-than-life characters behind the mic that gives off a sense of impenetrability to their foes. In comes a skinny kid from Cleveland wearing square frames on his face with skinny jeans wrapped around his waist, bringing ideas that didn’t just stick to the script. His goal was to show a sense of vulnerability and internal struggle within himself that was unheard of at the time. His superpower was showing his pain through the bottom registers of his cavernous voice, mixed with synchronous production from producers Emile Haynie, Plain Pat, No I.D., and Dot da Genius.

Cudi’s belief in his artistry and vision to create a concept album for his debut is something that truly should be admired by his peers and fans alike. The record is one long dream sequence broken down into 5 acts over 15 songs. Cudi crafted a cinematic sound in his music where you can imagine the tracklist is like one long movie script. The silky smooth voice of rap legend Common, who could make reading words out of a Thesaurus sound interesting, was tasked for narration about the hero’s journey—keeping the listeners on their toes with sharp truths about the Moonman’s struggle to find out a purpose on Earth, being blinded by the glare of life’s harsh rules and judgments.

“It was a dark gloomy shadow over my life at that point in time,” Scott said regarding his breakthrough single and most famous song from Man on the Moon “Day ’N’ Nite.” He released the record online in 2007 but didn’t catch its mass appeal until almost 2 years later. By working with one of his best friends and frequent collaborator Dot Da Genius they were able to create a synth-laden futuristic sound that immersed you in the world of the lonely stoner. A form of the word lonely was sung 18 times during “Day ’N’ Nite” hammering home the point of what his life has come to at this moment having no one around him for support. The production on the track was something new and fresh in hip-hop with honest lyrics from the heart paired with a hypnotizing melodic chorus that transformed this song into a classic.

Scott’s music is his therapy throughout the record putting his deepest, darkest thoughts on wax for all to hear. “When will I ever learn/From the words in my songs?” these lyrics feel like he’s staring in the mirror self-reflecting on all the troubles and pain that has gone on in his mind and what will it take to better himself as a person.

The second song on the album “Soundtrack 2 My Life” is Scott’s mission statement as an artist laying all of his problems out for everyone to see. He sings about the negative effects he’s gone through since his father passed away when he was at the age of 11, almost doing hard drugs that could lead to suicide, and his interpersonal demons burning within him like a fiery rage. The way he’s able to draw the listener in by delivering his anthem of a chorus that could be sung at the highest volume in arenas is what Cudi excels at the best on Man on the Moon.

The eeriest song on the record, “Solo Dolo,” has a haunting synth-layered loop that could send a shiver down Freddy Krueger’s spine. Cudi is trapped in the abyss with wailing vocals that leave an echo, creating the sensation of being trapped in a room all alone with nowhere to go. The record is a nightmare in every sense of the word.

The next two songs, “Heart of a Lion” and “My World,” are energy-boosting tracks that give you the confidence anything is possible through perseverance. The former has the vibe of the Rocky III song “Eye of the Tiger” with a message of “if you believe then you can achieve” type song that many can take away if you have the will inside you can get out of whatever circumstance you’re in. The latter has an underdog tone which also first introduces his trademark hums. The record is a spacey revenge story about all the people who doubted the narrator ending up regretting their decision once they see what the hero has become.

The most uplifting song from the record “Cudi Zone” is a moment of pure delight during the 4-minute runtime. This is Cudi at his highest rapping caliber on Man on the Moon. He sounds like he’s at total peace and everything is just perfect at this moment in time so that when he sings the “oooooooh” part in the chorus, you can’t help but sing along and grab a piece of that joy.

“Pursuit of Happiness” is rebellious at its core. Cudi sings about drinking and driving showing a reckless attitude toward himself and those around him, but the song was able to transcend the original intent of the record. That one word “happiness” is what stuck most with fans and trying to obtain this fleeting feeling is something everyone wants to achieve. People were drawn to this concept by looking past the dark lyrics to the bigger meaning of trying to do whatever in your life that gives you the notion of contentment. 

Man on the Moon opened the door for the next generation of artists to honestly discuss mental health as a whole in hip-hop. Kid Cudi paints a vivid picture of what a real person goes through in life with battles within on a day-to-day basis. Reaching out to fans across the world through his music he found out there are kids just like him in need of help creating a bond between artist and fandom that is unlike any other. The lonely stoner isn’t alone anymore.