Kid CuDi: A Kid Named CuDi – Mixtape Review

Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tags: Kid Cudi

I must admit that this mixtape is the reason that I began to get into the underground music scene in the first place; along with the minimal utility of popular mainstream songs that have life spans of three months. Anyway, a minute ago I did a story on hipster rappers. As I researched the artists who were on he list, I came across Kid CuDi’s MySpace page. The song on his page titled “Dat New New” was hot and along with other good songs, he had a movie trailer for his upcoming mixtape. “This guy is serious I thought.” A few weeks later I went back and found his mixtape available for free download. I was disappointed to find that the single that got me interested in the first place wasn’t on A Kid Named CuDi. Though once I listened to the rest of it and found “Dat New New” on z-share, that disappointment dissolved. CuDi’s effort was a strong one indeed and through the 17 songs on the mixtape, he proves he’s ready for entrance into
the mainstream.

    The intro starts out with the audio of people in a movie theater getting ready to see a show. That idea was dope to me, because indicating that your mixtape is a show implies that it’s definitely something to see (or hear in this case).

    “Is There Any Love” is a bass heavy track featuring DC native Wale that demands listeners to pay close attention to the lyrics. Both artists who have been labeled hipsters mesh well together and bring out each other’s distinguished styles. Songs like “Man on the Moon” and “Embrace the Martian” are tracks that speak about his individuality. He knows that he’s different and through these songs he asks for respect and appreciation, “I come in peace, but I need y’all rockin’ with me. ” I’m sure you can tell from ‘I come in peace’ that the line is from “Embrace the Martian.” Both songs have weird but funky sounds to them. “Man on the Moon” kind of makes me think of those tragic or extremely happy moments in movies where they mute the sound and turn up the quiet storm or war anthems. “Embrace the Martian” has a ghetto rock/techno feel to it that works very well with his flow.

    On the majority of his tracks CuDi shows off his singing skills, which are not at all shabby.  He realizes that all of the subjects he speaks on are not the usual topics of mainstream discussion. “T.G.I.F.” (“Thank God I’m Fresh”) is an ode to his musical differences.  It’s kind of a weird comparison, but the “T.G.I.F.” and “Day N Night” beat remind me of TLC’s Fanmail album where the beats were jumpy and mimicked sounds of a pinball machine. Nonetheless as “T.G.I.F.” states, it’s fresh. “Cleveland is the Reason” pays homage to his hometown. According to CuDi, “Cleveland is the reason I’m cool.” The song has a bit of a Little Brother feel, which is a nice addition to the project.

    I’ve previously written that I hate when people borrow beats from popular songs then copy and paste a freestyle. However, Kid CuDi took N*E*R*D’S “Spaz” and recreated a chorus and upgraded the lyrical game, so no hate there. He also creatively upgraded and spit over Andre 3000’s “Pink & Blue” on his track “Whenever” and Paul Simon’s “50 ways to leave your lover,” except CuDi’s is titled “50 ways to make a record.” The song “Maui Wowie” is about his experience with Hawaiian weed and how he has to go back and get some mo! Even if you’re not a smoker you’ll appreciate how he flipped it. For this track he borrowed Grind Mode’s “I’m so High.”

       Production wise, the mixtape is up there. Like up UP there. The producers Plain Pat & Emile, Dot Da Genius, The Crookers and a few more are not UBER famous producers, but they make a big splash on this project. All of the tracks exhibit style and substance that a lot of people already appreciate. The mixtape was released with sponsorship from the clothing line 10.Deep and the music blog Fool’s Gold, so it’s kind of a big deal. It won’t be long before he bursts onto the scene. His musical efforts and responses thus far are proof that he’ll do very well when he does.

Rating: 9
on the HipHopRuckus Richter Scale

For more Info visit:
www.kidcudi.com/
www.myspace.com/kidcudi

Download A Kid Named CuDi here!
www.10deep.com/KIDCUDIMIXTAPE/

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