Since my hiatus in May , I took time to reflect this unprecedented brought on by the events from the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, the writer’s block resumed as I tried to navigate through my transition to a new city, finishing graduate school and transitioning to second phase of my teaching career. What did not stop was my love and admiration of music. While there are unfinished draft reviews of albums that were released in 2020, I chose to return and close out my tenth year as a fundamentally lazy music critic to give my supportive readers a review on an artist that is near and dear to me; Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi for millenials represented the emotive, the outcasts with imaginative personalities and eclectic styles. Like many, I stumbled across Kid Cudi in 2007 on various blogs such as 2 Dope Boys and 10 Deep with his most notable song Day & Night.

It’s been about 2 years since Cudi release an album and he teased us with collaboration single with Travis Scott aptly named The Scotts. On December 11, 2020, Kid Cudi released his 8th effort, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen One to conclude his MOTM Trilogy.

As for the sound it takes off where the first MOTM left off with ethereal beats and Cudi’s iconic therapeutic humming to serve as ASMR during these challenging times. I also notice that Cudi isn’t afraid to take risk. In his Apple Music interview Zane Lowe, Cudi mentioned that Travis Scott encouraged him to improve on his lyricism which was often overlooked by critics. The album features production from long time collaboration Dot Da Genius, Emile Haynie, Plain Pat, Mike Dean and Travis Scott.

Overall the album showcases a more mature side of Cudi who’s demons no longer consume him as much despite the pandemic. Cudi’s metamorphosis allows his listeners on how he dealt with substance abuse, depression, fatherhood and finally coming to terms with his father’s death.

While the 18 track album gets no skips, there were a few standout tracks. “The Void” reminds us to remain hopeful during these dark times and Cudi reminds his listeners “It’s gon’ be okay, I promise you” In “Tequila Shots” The Rager still fights demons however this is a far cry from his former themes of sorrow and destructive patterns.

While MOTMIII closes out a phenomenal trilogy that was a decade in the making, I can’t wait to see what Cudi releases masses as we soldier through 2021; hopefully unscathed.