Ben Jackson ’11
THE ROUNDUP

When most people think about hip-hop think it is all about money, girls and cars, along with bass heavy beats and lyrics that are generally repetitive and offensive.

Kid Cudi has been revolutionizing the hip-hop scene with his lyrical genius and catchy beats.

His beats and style are close to that of B.o.B. and Lupe Fiasco but Cudi has flow and lyrics similar to Eminem and Wale, which make him standout from other artists.

Cudi released his first album, “Man on the Moon: The End of Day,” last year and it was very successful.

He had numerous hit songs off of “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” album like “Day n’ Nite,” “Soundtrack 2 My Life” and “Pursuit of Happiness.”

On Nov. 9, Cudi released the second installment to his Man on the Moon series with “Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.”

Most artists are very successful with their first album and then they fade off with less impressive work.

With “Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager,” Cudi has distanced himself from the usual hip-hop artist and elevated his status to one of the top artists right now.

On “Man on the Moon II: the Legend of Mr. Rager,” Cudi released two singles, “Erase Me” and “Mr. Rager,” prior to the release of the album.

Another song, “REVOFEV,” was put on Cudi’s YouTube before Nov. 9 but was not available for purchase until the whole album was released.

“Erase Me,” “Mr. Rager,” “REVOFEV,” “Scott Mescudi vs. the World” and “Ghost!” are some of the key songs on the new album.

The one thing that these all have in common is that they all are relatively fast-paced.

This is definitely one of Cudi’s stronger suits as an artist.

The flow of his lyrics in his verses work better with faster songs.

On his new album Cudi only produced a couple of disappointing songs.

“All Along” and “Don’t Play This Song” are noticeably slower songs and are not that great.

They disrupt Cudi’s natural flow and are difficult to sit through and listen to them all the way through.

Also, with the slower pace they become boring to listen to.

Besides those two songs the rest of the album is full of new and different songs that are going to revolutionize hip-hop.

Cudi, Wale, B.o.B and Lupe Fiasco are all up-and-coming artists that are changing hip-hop from its traditional sounds into something completely different.

They are straying from the repetitive hooks and beats to well thought-out lyrical verses and exciting beats.