Kid Cudi's Debut 'Ridiculously Intriguing'

The premise of Kanye West protégé Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of the Day is that he’s “not on the same planet as other rappers. The truth is that he’s not in the same genre,” writes Julian Benbow for the Boston Globe. The debut album “is a lot of things. It’s spacey, adventurous, and ridiculously intriguing if only because it’s so different. But it’s not rap”—more like “experimental and emotional hip-hop.” Elsewhere:

• “As a man who isn’t afraid to take risks, Cudi’s collaboration with electronic duo Ratatat and indie rock’s MGMT for ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ captures the album’s most transcendent moment,” writes Edwin Ortiz for HipHopDX. “Kid Cudi is the real deal.”
• “Kid Cudi has ripped off his label owner's formula—forward-thinking music meets entry-level confessional lyrics—with such shameless aplomb that you don't know whether to grin or roll your eyes,” writes Jess Harvell in the Washington Post.
• Kid Cudi “emerged in the past year as hip-hop’s unlikeliest relief pitcher” for West and Jay-Z, but his debut “is a colossal, and mystifying, missed opportunity, misguided if it is in fact guided at all,” writes Jon Caramanica in the New York Times.

(More Kid Cudi stories.)