Kanye West ft. Rihanna & Kid CuDi - All of the Lights

Yeah, yeah, this is now old by internet standards, but did you really think some Kanye shit would come out and I wasn't gonna talk about it?  C'mon, now.  Besides, it was a busy weekend...leave me alone!

Anyway...I still don't know how I feel about this song.  Love it musically.  Don't know what the hell it actually "means".  Wish Rihanna was nowhere near it*.  Love the fact that there are 501 random guest vocalists in the song.  Love that the video looks exactly the way the songs sounds in my head.  Yes, that last sentence made perfect sense.

* Rihanna has become so offensive to my ears and musical sensibilities that I can't even care that she hasn't worn clothes in the past 12 months**.  She's that bad.  Butt-nekkid 24/7, and I still want her to go away.

** Footnote to a footnote:  Let's say you were some sort of marketing/PR type person.  In a million years, would you ever tell your pop princess client that the way to re-brand her image after a violent attack from her superstar boyfriend is to go full Slutwave?  Am I the only one shocked that it worked?

Kid Cudi x Cage x St. Vincent x The Roots - Maniac (Live on The Jamie Flobbinz Nighty-Night Jamboree)

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Kid CuDi is now officially the only artist alive that I will go out of my way to be the typical dickhead music blogger for, and openly bash at any given opportunity.

CuDi is stunningly whack, and ruins his own songs.

Imagine if Cage or any other talented, "dark" emcee could get the production assists that this fool gets!  This song could have been incredible!  Instead, it's half-cooked, predictable and feels unfinished.  I hope I can get my hands on an all-instrumental copy of this cry-baby's album.

But the idea of Cage on national television performing with The Roots, with Annie from St. Vincent* on backup is just too random and unexpectedly dope to pass up.

* "Maniac" samples this.

Monday Morning Kanye

You know what time it is.
First up is this week's GOOD Friday jam that wasn't supposed to happen (Kanye was pissed about the 2 song leaks last week and said he was gonna put it on hold for the week):
 
Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi, Pusha T, John Legend, Lloyd Banks & Ryan Leslie - Christian Dior Denim Flow

Not really doing anything for me.  Buuuuuut, it's not on the album, so whatever.
And I think this might be the official farewell to Kid CuDi on this blog.  I can't take it anymore.

Moving along...
Kanye rocked SNL with "Power" and got the Pusha T assist on "Runaway" later.  And you know there was now way he was using that same subway-station-from-Mars performance stage as everyone else.  I must say, though...I am VERY VERY VERY disappointed in Kanye for swapping the 2nd verse of "Power".  At least it was a decent verse.





It's amazing how much better "Runaway" sounds with the added vocal samples.

First Post on Monday = Kanye West

If I'm gone for the whole weekend, I think we all know what the first Monday post is gonna be for a while: Kanye's weekly G.O.O.D. Friday jam.

This time, the song is actually titled, "G.O.O.D. Friday", and features the bulk of the label roster, with Common, CuDi, Big Sean, Charlie Wilson, and the Clipse's Pusha T making his debut of sorts with his new family:
   Kanye West - Good Friday (feat. Common, Pusha T, Kid Cudi, Big Sean & Charlie Wilson) by Epic_Network

Also, at last night's Thank God I Have a TiVo, Because I'm 28, and Alot Of This Shit makes Me Violently Ill Awards, 'Ye premiered a new joing with Pusha T called "Runaway".  If you know me personally, then you know this just might get Theme Music Status:


When he first came out on the MPC, I thought he was just gonna do a short instrumental set or something.  That would have been dope!  The world's most (unnecessarily) controversial rapper, for the most anticipated performance . . .to not even rap?  Would have been great.  I liked this song anyway, so we're good.  If you like, you can get an mp3 of the live jammie.  Of course if/when he releases a studio version, you know where to come to find it.

UPDATE:  I missed this while blowing through the VMA's last night . . .but Taylor Swift is seriously the biggest cornball alive.  WTF was that song/performance?  She treated the Kanye thing like it was a public assault that's she's spent a year in therapy for.  Good grief.  And now I'm reading that she was supposed to appear on stage with Kanye to close the show, but she waited until the last minute to refuse.  I'm a bit disappointed in Kanye for even wanting to do that in the first place.  What's the point?

Kid CuDi - Mojo So Dope

See...this song is exactly why CuDi is so frustrating to me.
This track is SO close to being great, but CuDi is killing himself with the "I was a high school loser" pity party and Revenge of the Nerds former outcast aggression.  Just get over it and record, damn.  Is he really going to be talking the same shit for the 2nd album?

Kid CuDi ft. Kanye West - Erase Me

This is gonna be big in high schools.
In my car...not so much.

Kid CuDi ft. MGMT & RATATAT - Pursuit of Happiness (Alternate Video)

This version is alot less NahRight, and alot more Pitchfork.
...and much better than then "Get it, dummies...just cuz I party, don't mean I'm happy" origi version.

And I still can't get my hands on an instrumental version of this friggin' album.

Johnny Polygon ft. Kid CuDi - Riot Song (Remix)

As promised.
The vid-jo for the origi came out today, but I can't find an embed code for shit, so check it out here.

Johnny Polygon - The Riot Song

Yes.  I dig this.
CuDi says he's on an upcoming remix of this, during which he will speak about smoking weed and being misunderstood in a melody that makes me question his chromosome count.

I Need Them Beats...

Does anyone have an instrumental copy of CuDi's album??
If so, can you hook a brotha up?

Kid CuDi - cudderisback

KiD CuDi "cudderisback" - Directed by Jason Goldwatch from DP on Vimeo.

You already know what I'm going to say here.

Kid CuDi...WTF?

(Photo from Plain Pat's Twitter...I think)

As you've heard me rant at least 3 times before, there's something about Kid CuDi that bothers me.  There's a clear immaturity to alot of his music.  His lyrics and interviews make him sound like an overwhelmed 16yr old.  Yes, he's very creative, very honest and I give him a ton of credit for being so open and introspective...but damn.

Grow up, CuDi

What you see above is a photo of CuDi being hassled by LAPD yesterday in a case of "mistaken identity".  5 patrol cars roll up, give his crew the business and put them in cuffs because they thought he was a thief.  Right.  I assume the worst from cops, especially LA/NYPD, but I'm very disappointed in CuDi's response to the whole thing:

“We’re in LA, it’s a rowdy place in the United States, you know? And a lot of shit goes down. And these cops have to use force. So it’s, like, I understand that they were doing their job. I just wish we weren’t in that place at that time.”

He essentially apologized to LAPD . . .for doing nothing.  And worse, rationalized the use of police force on the basis of assumption.  How could those words come out of a fully-functional Black man's mouth?  I hope CuDi gets a ton of bad press for this in the next few day.  He needs to wake up.

Kid CuDi ft. MGMT & RATATAT - Pursuit of Happiness

Get it?  All them parties don't make you happy, kids.
Or whatever.

At this point, it's impossible for me to say anything about CuDi without tail-spinning into a rant about the divergent appreciation and annoyance I feel about all his jams . . .so I'll shut up early.

I lied . . .

Are we as fans gonna allow CuDi to align himself as Baby Kanye in the "tortured 'urban' artist" segment, when A) He only has one album, and B) Creatively, he's only responsible for the hum-drum (yet very honest and introspective) lyrics on his shit, not the incredible "soundscapes" that are the REAL reason anyone listens to his album in the first place?

Just sayin'.
I thoroughly enjoy CuDi's music, as I'm sure most of you readers do...but how much of it is ACTUALLY because of CuDi?  Give a dozen other artist those tracks, and we're talking Album of the Year and all-time classic, genre-changing material the likes of Graduation or Food & Liquor.

Kid CuDi - Cudderisback

 

CuDi over Vampire Weekend, eh?
Inevitable, right? Yup.

CuDi is getting dangerously close to the "I'm sick of hearing you bitch about the same shit on every song" limit.

Consequence ft. Kanye West, Kid CuDi, Common, Big Sean & John Legend - Whatever You Want (G.O.O.D. Music Remix)

Its exactly what you think it is.
Still love that beat, though.
Have some.

Kid CuDi - Pursuit of Happiness

Not to get all Capt. Blogotron negative ::eye roll::, but this song kinda reinforces my apprehensions about CuDi's upcoming album:

The dude has amazing taste in what's good in music (this song is produced by Ratatat, with guest vocals from MGMT)...and he's very creative when it comes to the conceptual stuff . . .but the shiny aesthetics of Kid CuDi jams seem to be miles ahead of the ACTUAL lyrics and content. Is it just me? Am I expecting too much from him? I don't know.

N.O.R.E. ft. Kid CuDi - Floating In Sky

Heh heh . . .look at N.O.R.E. tryin' to get his "internet rapper" on.
Beat? Nice. Concept? Nice. Lyrics? Hmmm.

I definitely applaud the attempt to "go left" though.
Have some.

Kid CuDi ft. Kanye West & Common - Make Her Say

Bet that's not the video you were expecting, huh?
Pervert.

After the interview he did with Angie last week, I'm thinking that CuDi might actually hates this song...and that makes me chuckle.

I don't know if Yeezy directed this one. Perhaps this is his artistic yin-yangery [(c) - FF&SS, Ent.] for that titty-floppin' fiasco that was the Drake video (which I still say is dope, if you stop thinking about it on the surface).

Kid CuDi: Dat Kid From Cleveland

Don't know who or what's on it...don't know how many of the jams are "new"...
so just do what the clip says and download it. After all, old music is the reason why Steve Jobs invented the delete function.

Now I Can Sleep . . .

I assume that you, like myself, were going nuts wondering where the sample for CuDi's "I Poke Her Face" came from. Now we know. May the nation rest peacefully once again.