Man on the Moon III: The Chosen: Review
This article was supposed to come out about 24 hours ago and then it didn’t. The issue I had with this album was there was just too much for me to digest. The album is not at all too long. It sits at a solid eighteen songs and fifty-eight minutes. The actual content itself did need a little more time to circulate in my head but I could have banged out an article and figured it out as I went. No, what needed more time to digest was my feelings about the album. Man on the Moon: The End of Day is one of the most formative albums of my childhood. Prior to 2008 I was a classic rock kid. My parents had brought me up on the musical stylings of U2 and Queen. I liked Michael Jackson and Maroon 5. The year 2008 gave me two songs that sort of changed my life. The first was Kanye West’s “Heartless,” and the second was “Day ‘N’ Night (nightmare)” by the man himself, Kid Cudi. The latter of those two was actually the first hip-hop song I discovered and liked on my own. Kid Cudi played a not so small role in my eventual love of hip-hop and by extension, the creation of this website and discovery of my passion.
The rest of Man on the Moon: The End of Day I would discover later in life. The first of those songs I would discover was actually “Up, Up and Away.” This deep emotional attachment to the prior album has thrown me for a loop then. My whole goal at The Rap Up is to be able to talk about every sport and hip-hop release in a way that as many people can read and feel the passion through the page as possible. I want everyone that reads an article on my site to feel like the thing they love is being talked about fairly and given all the love and attention it deserves. Talking about this album however, presents a problem. I got so excited when this album was announced. I jumped up from my desk chair and was physically darting around my apartment with excitement. I direct messaged the Instagram post to multiple friends. Then a pit formed in my stomach. I was going to have to review this album for the site. This album means too much to too many people to not review, myself included.
I realized I did not just want this album to be good, I needed it to be good. Luckily the album is good. I thoroughly enjoy this album, more on that later. How much do I enjoy this album? Is it a solid project that sounds like a nice conclusion (sort of) to the Man on the Moon trilogy of albums? Is this album actually a genuinely great album that should be applauded and raved about by critics. The early online consensus is one of satisfaction and admiration that we did indeed get this, the final chapter, in the Man on the moon trilogy.
I’m not sure how much I agree with the early online consensus. I was an emotionally immature child. I buried my feelings and kept my act as class clown up no matter what in my personal life was falling apart around me. Music, therefore, was never the emotional outlet for me that it was for others. Man on the Moon: The End of Day was hugely important for me but at the same time, I never once came close to crying during full listens of this album as so many others did.
Now I am torn. Part of me wants to follow this train of thought and talk about this album purely as an abstract concept and the ways it makes myself and others feel. Another part of me wants to stop myself from word vomiting onto the page and just get to the damn review already. So what I am going to do is step away from the keyboard. I have a lot of planning for next week’s articles to do. So I am going to go do that. When I come back, hopefully I will know what to do. This album is too important for me to get wrong. That’s why I took the extra twenty-four hours to write this.
. . .
I’ve decided to go more abstract with this review. This is not a typical album release. This is not the type of album we will ever get to see released again. My story and history with this album is not in any way more emotional and significant than many others. I feel the best way to talk about the album is to just talk about it. The track is split into four unique segments. I imagine this will be how the vinyl will be split up. The individual sections aren’t that unique in theme or style. However the third section titled, “Heart of Rose Gold” is maybe the most reminiscent of the original Man on the Moon albums’ sound. The beats are more stripped back and the lyrics are a little more internally focused then some of the other sections.
That being said this album is hugely introspective. It continues along the path that the prior two albums laid out. Kid Cudi sees himself moving forward with his life. He continues to advance and grow. His depression has not just disappeared, but he now has ways to handle it and cope. Kid Cudi also tackles the idea that he can suddenly fall back into an old feeling and experience the same feelings he had thought he left in the past. The evil Mr. Rager sees a return on this album as the antagonist in Kid Cudi’s nightmare. The album has a lot of layers that take many listens to fully grasp.
If some of that last paragraph seems to contradict itself, good. The album is a journey that doesn’t have just one destination. Different people will come away with slightly different ideas and meanings after the final drum has been hit, and the final word is spoken. It would be too easy to just go track by track and dissect each song and the way it sounds. The album’s sound is quite diverse and lends itself to be listened to repeatedly. Songs like “Mr. Solo Dolo III” and “The Void” will take you right back to the days of old. These songs will transport you back ten years to a time when things were maybe a bit more simple and the only problems you faced were internal. These problems were helped with music from your favorite artists like Kid Cudi.
If you need a description of the overall sound however, just imagine Passion, Pain, and Demon Slayin’ had a baby with Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Dot da Genius, Plain Pat, Take a Daytrip and Mike Dean all return to help produce this album and make it feel like a true next entry in the Man on the Moon series. Kid Cudi’s writing and flows are fantastic. The word play is wonderful throughout and his flows are buttery smooth. Cudi probably was more lyrically potent and consistent on KIDS SEE GHOSTS but that album is nearly perfect.
I could go on and on about nostalgia and the things I love, but the album has its flaws. The biggest flaw to me is that there are at least three songs on this album that just have no business being here. The worst offender is “Show Out” weirdly enough. It is a UK Grime rap song featuring Skepta that has no place on this album. The track is actually quite good. I genuinely enjoy it. However I think if you took this song and replaced it with “The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady,” the flow and sound of the album would fit much better. Another song that doesn’t fit is “Rockstar Knights,” and it is no coincidence that the song with Trippie Redd does not fit on the album. Trippie Redd adds absolutely nothing to the track and frankly the track just feels out of place amongst one of the best stretches of songs the album has to offer. The final four tracks of the album could have been perfect if you just removed that one song.
Then we come to the biggest issue with this album. This album is not Man on the Moon: The End of Day part 3. This is Man on the Moon III: The Chosen. This is a unique album that has a fairly unique sound and a similar subject matter. This album is trading on nostalgia for hype. This is not done with malicious intent by Kid Cudi at all, but the album was going to do this regardless of what Cudi’s intent was. The album suffers from its own legacy. “Tequila Shots” is a totally new and fantastic little bop with a deeper meaning behind it. Somehow this doesn’t matter. Kid Cudi put out a wonderfully solid album of really deep and personal hip-hop music that a lot of people will really enjoy.
I desperately wanted this album to be the first A I ever gave out. I wanted this album to blow me away and give me chills for the entirety of the run time. Unfortunately it didn’t. However I greatly appreciate and enjoy the vast majority of the songs on this project. I reserve the right to adjust my score at a later date, however for now I am comfortable with the grade I have settled on.
The Grade: B