Man On The Moon: The Trilogy Continues
On December 11th, 2020, Kid Cudi released his long-awaited Man on the Moon 3, which cemented the trilogy as one of musics’ greatest and most influential of all time.
On December 11th, 2020, Kid Cudi dropped his first solo album since 2016 with his long-awaited 3rd rendition of his man on the man trilogy: ‘Man On The Moon lll: The Chosen’. This drop came a little over 11 years since Cudi’s debut album ‘Man On The Moon: The End of Day’, and 10 years after his sophomore album ‘Man On The Moon: The Legend of Mr. Rager’. For those who aren’t as familiar with Kid Cudi’s music, MOTM3 (Man On The Moon 3) would have been their first real insight into Cudi’s music, besides of course mainstream hits such as Pursuit of Happiness, Day n’ Nite, Memories, and Erase Me. MOTM3 ended up debuting at number 2 on the US Billboard 200, with 144,000 sales in its first week, tying Cudi’s 2013 release ‘Indicud’ for his highest-charting album at number 2. Despite the success of MOTM3, it’s only a small piece of hip-hop’s greatest trilogy.
To get a better look into the influence and talent exhibited through Scott Mescudi’s (Kid Cudi’s) Man On The Moon trilogy we must go back to the release of the first Man On The Moon, which thrust Kid Cudi into stardom and ultimately changed hip-hop forever. The magnitude of Cudi’s influence through Man On The Moon on all levels, not just hip-hop, is very rarely talked about. Before the release of MOTM, rappers and hip-hop artists in general, rarely touched on subjects such as mental illness, heartbreak, and self-reflection the way Cudi did, which ended up having an impact on not just hip-hop, but music and pop culture in general. As Common puts it in his narration at the end of ‘In My Dreams’, Cudi on MOTM acted as “A voice who spoke of vulnerabilities and other human emotions and issues never before heard so vividly and honest”. Cudi made it ok to show emotions in a society where being emotional as a man, especially a black man, was highly frowned upon. His MOTM trilogy, MOTM1 especially, acted as a beacon of hope for those who feel lost in life and cemented Cudi as a leader of younger generations struggling to find their way.
In fact, Cudi’s man on the moon trilogy has been so impactful that many big named artists and celebrities credit Cudi with paving the way for their careers and even saving their lives. One of the biggest stars being Timothee Chalemet, who talked about Cudi’s influence when asked about a dinner involving Cudi, Kanye West, and Pete Davidson on the tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon, where he said “Kid Cudi, that’s my favorite artist ever. I wouldn’t be acting without him. I wouldn’t have pursued this crazy career”. Like Timothee, Pete Davidson has been very open about his love for Cudi since coming into the industry, and in an interview with Charlamagne on The Breakfast Club he said that “he saved my life, I would have killed myself if I didn’t have Kid Cudi… I truly believe if Man On The Moon didn’t come out I wouldn’t be here right now”. But, the most notable impact Cudi has had maybe on one of hip-hop and pop culture’s biggest stars Travis Scott, whose music and personality, throughout his career, has strongly reflected the impact of Kid Cudi and MOTM. In an interview with Hot 97s ‘Ebro in the AM’, Travis Scott was asked about his inspiration for making music, where he said “Kid Cudi’s really like one of the main dudes I kinda like looked at and listened to all the time, he saved my life”. In fact, Travis’s first two albums were modeled off of Kid Cudi’s concepts and sounds in man on the moon 1 and 2, I’d even go so far as to say that Travis Scott became one of the biggest names in pop culture solely thanks to Kid Cudi and MOTM.
While I, like Travis, Timothee, and Pete, credit Cudi and the release of MOTM with saving my life and giving me a sense of direction and love even in my darkest moments, the sound of the MOTM trilogy may be even more influential than the subject matter. Before the release of 808s and Heartbreaks by Kanye West in 2008 and Man On The Moon in 2009, hip hop was relatively always fast-paced, drum and sample-driven, and rarely ventured into other genres such as rock and alternative. But that all changed thanks to MOTM; hip-hops first alternative, psychedelia album. Listening to MOTM you can’t help but be drawn towards the euphoric, spacey, futuristic sounds that helped inspire the sound of almost every hip-hop song you hear today. This may be a controversial statement, but on MOTM, Cudi was the first (or at least first successful) hip-hop artist to experiment with vocal harmonizing and abstract melodies such as humming and singing. Before him, all melodies and harmonics came from the instrumental or a rapper’s flow, but nobody (besides maybe Kanye on 808s, but even Kanye said there would be no 808s and Heartbreak without Cudi) had yet ventured into using their own voice as their main instrument. And he did all this with little to no autotune. There literally would be no Drake, no Travis, no Khalid, no Post Malone, without Kid Cudi and MOTM.
The concepts and artistic detail exhibited through the trilogy is another one of the biggest contributors to its greatness. On the first MOTM, the instrumentals and production are almost completely opposite the lyrics and subject matter, almost to show how on the surface one might seem bright and happy, while on the inside they’re full of pain and turmoil. On MOTM2, Cudi uses a much darker sound, full of electric guitar and rock influence, with even darker lyrics surrounding death and addiction. The first MOTM was Cudi showing all aspects of his life, good and bad, but on MOTM2 it’s as if all the light has been sucked out and Cudi’s music is a perfect representation of this. I’d even venture to say that the soundscapes on MOTM2 were ever more influential than that on MOTM1, as without the darkness of MOTM2 we wouldn’t have albums such as Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight by Travis Scott, Luv Is Rage 2 by Lil Uzi Vert, Beauty Behind the Madness by The Weeknd, and many more. But then again, without MOTM we wouldn’t have Travis Scott in general, there would be no Uzi, Playboi Carti, Brockhampton, Mac Miller, Phoebe Bridges, or any other artist who strives off euphoric, genre-bending sounds.
However, Man On The Moon 3, Cudi’s most recent and final installment of the MOTM trilogy, did the complete opposite of what his first two albums did: he was inspired by the sounds he inspired. I know you’re probably reading that thinking “oh my god what did you just say?”, and yes, I will agree it does sound kind of stupid, but if you really listen to the sound and understand what went into making this album you’d see where I’m coming from. In the months leading up to MOTM3 Cudi dropped two singles, the first being Leader of the Delinquents, which took many Cudi fans by surprise with its faster, more bass-driven sound. His second and final release before the album was a collaboration song with his former prodigy, Travis Scott. Again this was most Kid Cudi’s fans’ first time hearing Cudi over a quicker, less alternative, more mainstream type beat. Were either song bad, no, not at all, they were just out of the ordinary which is sometimes hard to deal with when you’ve fallen in love with a specific sound. Nevertheless, when Cudi dropped the first of two MOTM3 trailers I was ecstatic. There was no better time for Cudi to return with another album than 2020, and on December 11th the long-awaited MOTM3 finally dropped, and to be completely honest with you I hated it at first. Of course, I stayed up until 10 waiting for it to drop and then immediately listened to the whole album, but there was something about the first half that almost made me give up on listening and go to bed. I had to turn off my computer for a minute to try and regroup myself because I had never felt so let down in my life. It wasn’t that it was bad, I had just spent the past two years anticipating an almost exact replica of either MOTM1 or two, or more ideally, a complete mix of the two. This is a very common occurrence in pop-culture; hyping up the release of certain entertainment media to the point where there’s no possible way it can live up to its expectations, almost guaranteeing its failure before it’s even finished. Instead of allowing Cudi’s sound and music to progress and change I was almost forcing him into a box and disallowing the one thing he stood for more than anything: personal expression. When I first listened to MOTM3 I honestly thought that it sounded like he was ripping off Travis Scott’s sound, but then I realized that Travis’s sound is Cudi’s sound. Was Cudi’s sound on MOTM more conventional than the rest of his discog; yes, but not because he was ripping anyone off or trying to make an explosion in the industry, but because he enjoys the music he inspired and wanted to try his hand at it. Cudi wasn’t making this album to sound mainstream; to “fit in” with a new generation of hip-hop; to widen his fanbase; he made this album because was happy and wanted to express that through his music, the same way he did on MOTM1&2. He had finally found himself on an inner level and wasn’t being controlled by his depression, anxiety, addiction, or any other demon he was fighting throughout his early career. Through the first two episodes of his MOTM series, he inspired more than just a new generation of hip-hop artists, but a new generation of individuals, and it was about time Cudi was able to have some fun through his music.
In hindsight, I’m incredibly disappointed in how stubborn I was about accepting MOTM3 because when I really think about it it’s as if I wanted Cudi to continue struggling with his demons so that I could get another album to guide me through the dark. What I didn’t realize though is that if we got another album like MOTM 1 or 2, then there would be no happy ending to the man on the moon. There would be no light at the end of the tunnel. What MOTM3 showed us is that no matter what you may be going through right now you won’t be there forever. Cudi went from lines such as “I am happy, that’s just the saddest lie” on MOTM1 and “I’m addicted to highs, would you like to know why?” on MOTM2, to “I won’t be a victim of the devil, got the wrong dude” on MOTM3.
I know I already touched on this earlier, but perhaps the most important influence of the MOTM trilogy is the story Cudi tells. Through all three MOTM albums, we saw the full journey of starting out in the world, being lost and out of control, and finally finding love in yourself and the world around you. No matter how incredible the music may be, nothing can compare to the personal impact Kid Cudi’s MOTM trilogy has had, and will continue to have, on me and millions of others around the world. To quote Cudi himself on his anthem track Man on the Moon, “I be that man on the moon, I’m that man on the moon, And I’mma does what I do, so do you, hey-hey”.
