Man On The Moon III: The Chosen
by Kid Cudi

Great return from Cudi. MOTM 1 > MOTM 2 > MOTM 3 IMO but it is still a great album. It gets better and better with each listen. A great return to form from Cudi.

From mdbaxter 01/05/2021 00:00 | #263845 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

A somewhat flawed return to form for the lonely stoner. Better than I expected it to be given his releases since the last MOTM project. The album is good but not without some dubs. It's ultimately too long but it has plenty of replay value. Cudi seems to fade in and out of control of the music but when he finds the mark it works just like it did back when I was in high school. In a perfect world, I would've liked to see more growth from the MOTM2 given how long it's been but I'm not going to complain.

From HoldenM 12/15/2020 18:49 | #262743

Sounds great, and it more or less justifies its running time, but the four-act structure seems a little unnecessary, given how homogenous it is.

From Boltzmann 12/13/2020 13:01 | #262633 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I didn't expect Cudi to jump onto trap so eagerly, but it makes much sense - seeing long time fan Travis Scott surpassing him in success - and it complements his rapping style fine. I have to respectfully disagree with OstrichGoat below; I think besides extending the measures of the beats to 8 beats, he hasn't taken any production techniques from trap. The production is satisfying, surprising and subtle as I'm used to from Cudi; the translation into trap makes it very interesting rather.

In terms of vibe, vocals and production this is an album I've always wanted Cudi to make: leaning into the sadness and the rage. I respect his attempts at upbeat tracks, but I think the motivation is wrong if you do it so people won't see you as that sad rapper. He really sounds much more stable on this album, like someone who has his mind made up. But all in all I think music by someone who is still in search will always be superior, even if it's worse in all the parts. That is to say: the album is also very stable, so maybe this album simply came too late. Songs are rather static, which is not a surprise from Kid Cudi really, but every song really contains the same vibe, somewhere between the crippling depression of "Swim in the Light" and the ego trip of "Unfuckwittable". Not one song diverges from this, which makes the album barely bearable. But still he manages to make every song a trip full of surprises in the details of the productions, or his hums, or his rapping technique - because that's often forgotten about Cudi: that he is a great rapper too. There's nothing of "Solo Dolo part II" levels of rapping quality, but - again - he consistently stays on a level of 'pretty good'.

The lack of stand out tracks is the downfall of this album in the end. Something I also noticed on part two of this trilogy. Since it is part of the trilogy, I think there is more pressure on him to succeed, which prevents him from taking risks. That's why I was pretty content with him not finishing the trilogy at first, I understand he will probably not be in the same mood as 2009 since people grow. But still, I'm not mad at this.

I liked some songs (Mr. Solo Dolo III, Lovin' Me) but the production is just so generic and stale to me that it became a really grating listening experience. Even when it's good lyrically or thematically, it all feels so monotonous to listen to as an album. There's nothing truly awful except for that chorus in The Void that sounds like a mid-2010s Eminem leftover. It's a passing background hum of an album and a huge disappointment knowing that Cudi is capable of much more.