Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven

Kid Cudi
Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven
2015
Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven

This is not the Kid Cudi you are looking for. If this album was being described in an alternate universe filled with Jedi's and Stormtropers that might be the phrase we would use when talking about this record. The "Pursuit of Happiness" artist is back with his fourth studio album that is nothing like anything He has done before. Putting Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven in the hip hop genre is flat out wrong. Cudi is making psychedelic grunge complete with a trippy album cover and an overblown run time. Kid Cudi has been pretty honest about his use of psychedelics and troubles with depression as of late which do add a frame of reference for the records direction. What is odd is the use of Bevis and Butthead as tags on some of the songs, what is odd is if an artist of Kid Cudi's stature wants to make a genre jump He has to do it right. There is a lot of just letting things happen and see where the music goes, and often that leads to repetitive tracks that don't really make sense in direction. Nirvana's influence on this record is all over, if not directly lifted. Perhaps Cudi feels like He is channeling Kurt Cobain, but He really is not.

The real misstep here may very well be Kid Cudi's hip hop past. The electric guitar on this album is used almost like a turntable letting a hook be played over and over and over, and while that is the base and soul of Hip Hop on a guitar is sounds simply stupid. Cudi also is just not that great of a guitarist, perhaps if He had a super solid band (The Roots perhaps?) behind him then He could do something with the thoughts in his head. Where the album is very successful is in the lyrics. Cudi plain and simple knows how to write from the heart. Though it is usually through a distorted voice this album shows a depressed man trying to deal with his emotions in one of the only ways He knows how, writing. There are struggles, revelations and experiences that He is able to chronicle better than almost anyone but the package they come in is so hard to digest. There is a lot here over an hour and a half to be specific, the last eight tracks of which are nothing short of miserable to get through, but it is so meandering so unfocused that it becomes a total chore to listen to. Maybe this is all a joke and another stellar rap album is around the corner, or Cudi is laughing at us right now. I don't know, but if this is serious, then this is really serious.

4.2 out of 10