KiD CuDi - CuDi's UnCommon '08-'09 (a misshapedmixtape)

Sometimes I can be so stupid with music. Exactly two years ago (9/12/09) when Kid Cudi released his debut album, “Man on the Moon: The End of Day,” I completely wrote it off. No, I did more than that. I thought that it sucked and I went out of my way to tell people that they should NOT listen to Kid Cudi... this after casually listening to the album all the way through (once)… and seeing the underwhelming “Make Her Say” video (more than once). 


It didn’t help that “Make Her Say” sampled Lady Gaga, was cutesily degrading towards women (but not Lady Gaga), had lyrics that seemed written for 12-year-olds, and that Cudi’s verse was the worst part of an overall bad song (though Common and Kanye were also lame on it). All of these things together instilled a confident smugness within me that Cudi undoubtedly sucked -- which got me to the point where I shouted out “Man, you guys sure sound a lot better without Kid Cudi overtop your music!” at a rad Ratatat show.

Okay, maybe I only shouted that in my head.

But if I was off my medication it would’ve happened out loud. And that’s beside the point because I DID shout it in my head. So there. Zing! Anyway... did I mention that I can be stupid about music sometimes? Coz yeah, I was wrong about Kid Cudi. Real wrong.

To defend my original snap judgment, Kid Cudi isn’t a great rapper. And he’s a worse singer than rapper (and he sings a lot). And “Make Her Say” was the worst song on the album – not because of the other faults that I mentioned (or because it was mainstream radio fodder) – but more importantly because it does not fit with the theme of the rest of the album (and now I promise not to talk about that song for the rest of this post even though I listened to it the other day for the first time in a long time and it made me chuckle and I thought for a second that it wasn’t half-bad).

However, be that (i.e. all these negative things that I’m blathering on about) as it may, Kid Cudi is a brilliant songwriter. I mean, brilliant. He’s also easily one of the most original artists putting out music (regardless of genre) these days and has the balls to do whatever he wants (supposedly a rock album will be his next release). So yeah, I owe Kid Cudi an apology… Dear Kid Cudi, your debut album was actually (almost) perfect and you were releasing straight fire in 2008 & 2009 and you are a nice guy and it’s pretty cool that you recruited Ratatat to be on your album and I like that you’re from the Midwest and your (other) music videos are freaking cool. In summary, your music is good. I’m sorry.

But back to the now-you-know-it’s-actually-awesome “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” debut album. There is one unfortunately bad thing about it that remains. Alas, motherfucking Common narrates throughout the album (arghhh!) effectively destroying the flow of a masterpiece while contributing completely uninteresting debonair-voiced commentary that has made me hit the >> button on ITunes WAY too often. Why did you have to do that Common? Why?

Actually, allow me to rant (even more), Common had a terrible 2008 & 2009. Not only did he release the ONLY bad album of his career (actually “Universal Mind Control” teeters past bad and into god-awful territory), he also graced the silver screen as an actor in TWO ultra-shit movies: “Street Kings” and “Terminator Salvation.” I am a big Common fan (with an unhealthy affinity for the weirdness on “Electric Circus”), so I am not just being mean. I expect that when Common’s new album comes out later this year, it will be good. I might even go to see him in concert for a third time. But I will NEVER forgive him for ruining such a beautiful album.

But wait, what happens if you cut out ALL of the Common narration from “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” and take out a few other throwaway tracks (including the song that is not to be named again) and ADD some virtuohsick songs off the “A Kid Named Cudi” mixtape from 2008? Here it is: “CuDi's UnCommon '08-'09 (a misshapedmixtape).”

In conclusion, if you’re familiar with Cudi’s debut album you will see that I did NOT tinker much with the track order/flow of it for this mix. He DEFINITELY knew what he was doing when he sequenced that album together in what he classifies as “Five Acts.” However, I put in “Man On The Moon” (off the mixtape) as track one (prelude to Act I) and then took some creative liberties after the end of the third act to (in my opinion) improve the final two acts. I’m really proud of this one, so please share it with your friends and loved ones, and bring some more traffic to the misshapedmixtapes website. We had tons of hits on the launch (granted, that XV mix is tough to top), but this is all good ass shit. 


I’m sadly aware that this music is truly “misshaped” – coz I wish I could give each of you a Maxell 110-minute double-sided cassette instead of a download link – but these mixes take as much time and love to craft as back when I was using the ol’ stop-start on my parents’ stereo. So enjoy it. And I’m sorry, but my tape recorder is broken now (sad face).

Tracklist below (check for download link in "comments):

01 : Man On The Moon

02 : In My Dreams (Cudder Anthem)

03 : Soundtrack 2 My Life

04 : Simple As...

05 : Solo Dolo (Nightmare)

06 : Heart Of A Lion (Kid Cudi Theme Music)

07 : My World (ft Billy Craven)

08 : Day N Nite (Nightmare)

09 : Sky Might Fall

10 : Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part I)

11 : 50 Ways To Make A Record

12 : Alive (Nightmare) (ft Ratatat)

13 : Cudi Zone

14 : Pursuit Of Happiness (Nightmare) (ft MGMT & Ratatat)

15 : The Prayer

16 : Embrace The Martian

17 : Up Up & Away

18 : Heaven At Nite