“Scott Mescudi used to live upstairs from me. He was a good kid, really charismatic but his priorities were really fucked up. He used to be head to toe in Bape all day everyday but would always come over and get his grub on. Making PB&J’s on the regular.
One day when he came over I had a talk with him and told him this has to stop He always said, “When I blow up man, I got you. Trust me, I got you.” I didn’t know what the hell he was doing to “blow up,” but he always said this over and over. But today I was kind of fed up.
Scott didn’t come back over and I haven’t seen him in about a year since then. One day I flip on the TV and BOOM! He’s (Scott) sitting on the couch on 106&Park. Who would’ve thought. Scott, or KiD CuDi as you guys know him made it to the big screen.” – Lemi
KiD CuDi was the first young dude in hip-hop to talk about his flaws & imperfections, lack of confidence. He has a soulful style but still relevantly trendy. Just a very humble and honest musician. Sonically for those that listened to alternative music as well as Hip-Hop, he was a breath of fresh air because he was sampling groups such as “Band of Horses” and singing melodies never before heard in the Hip-Hop genre.
5 years ago today, KiD CuDi’s Gold certified, GRAMMY Nominated debut album, Man On the Moon: The End of Day, was released.
Musically, the albums sensibilities ranged from glossy low-fi, spaced-out, experimental bangers to shimmering shoegazing emo numbers. Connected by narration from Common, the track list was broken into five “acts” as lyrically CuDi wore his heart on his sleeve on each.
“All the hooks are stadium-worthy, crowd sing-along, powerful joints that I can’t wait for people to hear in stadium magnitude. My album definitely needs to be heard loudly, but it’s also a great album if you’re smoking and you need to go to sleep.” Said CuDi an ’09 interview with Black Book Magazine.
This musical lane CuDi built with his album seems like a spawn of Kanye West’s and his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak with CuDi co writing a number of Kanye’s songs, including “Welcome To Heartbreak,” “Heartless,” “Paranoid,” and “Robocop.”
When put into the proper prospective CuDi’s contribution to 808′s was more of a prelude to his debut LP. A prelude that Drake would later use as the bases of his career starting with his highly favored So Far Gone mixtape.
Its not hard to see why CuDi is such an influencer. His sound, style and vibe is ground breaking. He’s an innovator. Mixing Rock with Soul melodies and Hip-Hop elements, and not being afraid to show his emotional side, CuDi brought something to the urban community that was missing, the ability to be vulnerable.
CuDi made not being okay okay. While most of music was all about having fun or trying to be hood CuDi was out there like, “I’m not hard, I’m human. I have emotions. I get depressed and I going through shit. This attitude towards music and life gave light/birth to the “Urban Emo”, the Travis Scott’s, Chance The Rapper and Raury’s of today.
The influence of Cudder has been greatly felt through popular music without most of us even realizing it. But for those that do realize, CuDi will forever hold a place amongst music’s elite. Especially the kids of generation Y. The dreamers, the indigos, those with an unwavering desire and passion to pursue what they feel they were destined for.
