What’s In My Headphones…

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What is there to not be said about this album? As one of my most anticipated albums of this quarter and Cudi being one of my favorite artists right now you know I was going to have to speak on this eventually. With a growing fan base and buzz across the US and abroad, Cudi has been able to silently sneak his way into most of our iPods and television screens. And here comes the album…originally named Man on the Moon: The Guardians, Cudi changed the name to End of Days when he shed many of the features that were originally on the album.

I’ve actually had the album since last week through some contacts that shall remain nameless and actually bought it yesterday when it came out. Upon first listen I was impressed and satisfied with what I heard because I’ve listened to Cudi for so long. But going into 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spins throughout the album I was able to appreciate it even more. There is nothing more that I can say but, this album is DOPE. Not Album of the Year dope, But DOPE nevertheless.

The album is broken up into 5 acts like a movie or a play – with a group of songs in each that give a different tone and feel to the album. There are some ups and downs emotionally that Cudi displays but this is what really makes the album great because you can feel the emotion that was placed into the stories that he tells. In Act I – he introduces us into his dreams with A Soundtrack to My Life and Simple As explaining his current state…

Acts II & III  go more into Cudi’s dark side – this is where you hear more the pain and emotion that he has been through, and the darkness that may haunt him – songs likeSolo Dolo bring out a dark tone but show you into his mindset – growing up without a father, having low self esteem, smoking weed and you think how was this guy able to overcome that? Songs like Day N’ Nite and Sky Might Fall (originally from the Dat Kid from Cleveland Mixtape) also speak of the nightmares, what he is struggling but speaks of his resiliency…

Acts IV & V show that Cudi able to conquer his dark past – this is where you will hearCudi Zone and his third single Pursuit of Happiness where he is able to display that he was able to overcome his demons to come out. Hyyerr and and Up Up & Away are stoner songs to me but bring a mellow end to the album…Make Her Say, as Cudi explains it, was added here because it was the fun song of the album and in his mind was the fantasy type of song that fight for this act…

With production credits going to mostly Kanye West, Emile, and Plain Pat, Cudi stuck with a formula that created the buzz that he has today. To add to the effect of storytelling, the album is narrated by none other than Common who brings a strong tone and message to Cudi’s album. The album is low on features which allowed him develop a tightly themed album with appearances from Chip the Ripper, Ratatat (who Cudi plans to drop albums with exclusively), Kanye West, Common, Billy Cravens, and MGMT.

So a definite must buy to me – it will get criticism for Cudi singing too much on the album (which I don’t think is entirely true) but I think if you take it for a body of work rather than separate songs you will understand what Cudi was trying to do with Man on The Moon: End of Days. You’d be surprised with how much that you could personally identify with in his lyrics. If you have heard it already, what do you think?

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

Tagged as: Kid Cudi

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What's In My Headphones (www.whatsinmyheadphones.com) is a blog dedicated to letting his subscribers know what is the hottest and latest in hip hop, rap, r&b, soul and other forms of music. Although headquartered in Chicago, the site features music from all over the country.

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