Bonus Post #7

Ugh. Fine.
Kids See Ghosts (Kanye West + Kid Cudi) - Kids See Ghosts (June 8, 2018)

Earlier this year, during a Twitter frenzy that threw the Interweb into a tizzy, Kanye West announced a joint album with frequent collaborator Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi. This was considered a big deal, mostly because West and Cudi had previously experienced a falling-out of sorts, with Cudi ditching ‘Ye’s G.O.O.D. Music label to do his own thing, and later admonishing West for using ghostwriters, which resulted in West calling him out during one of those famous rants at his live shows that get more press than the music itself. The two men patched things up, however, and quietly started working together again, first collaborating on a couple of songs for The Life of Pablo, and then during the Wyoming recording sessions that ended up producing both ye and the self-titled debut from their newly-named duo, Kids See Ghosts.

The real reason this was a big deal, though, is because Cudi is oftentimes credited with  pushing Kanye West’s career in a different direction, having heavily influenced 808’s & Heartbreak, ‘Ye’s Auto-Tuned breakup album. (As that project also had a hand in creating the Drake we still hear today, you can blame Mescudi for that shit, as well.) Cudi’s combination of contemplative, vulnerable vocals and brash boasts-n-bullshit bars has defined a specific era within our chosen genre, one that is still currently ongoing, for better and for worse.

After Cudi bailed on ‘Ye’s label to do his own thing, he released a few projects that weren’t very well-received critically or commercially, as his label didn’t really understand how to market an artist that refused to fall under one classification. Cudi turned to Hollywood as a way to exercise some of his creative juices, popping up in movies and television shows, most puzzlingly (and most hilariously, to me) as the bandleader on the TV version of the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast, which has me hoping that Scott Auckerman pops up on a Cudi project at some point in the near future.

But, more distinctly, Cudi spent some time hospitalized, having suffered from severe depression and suicidal thoughts, with West following shortly afterward (which resulted in the cancellation of the Saint Pablo tour). Perhaps realizing that they had much more in common than they first thought caused the two men to reform their shared bond.

Kids SeeGhosts  was the third album released during Kanye’s five-album run this past summer, following Pusha T’s DAYTONA and ‘Ye’s own ye. Like its predecessors, it features seven tracks, as Kanye and Cudi split microphone duties alongside occasional guests (including Pusha T and Yaasin Bey, who had supposedly retired from music but still pops up on here regardless). Upon its release, it was hailed by critics and ‘Ye stans as a masterpiece, which is a bit much, but now with it in the rearview, the praise has scaled back a bit, with critics now claiming it to be a toss-up between Kids See Ghosts and DAYTONA. A lot of this has to do with Kanye’s bars being tempered by the presence of a consistent collaborator: MAGA ‘Ye may pop up in brief spurts, but ultimately he leaves the red hat at home for this project. And Mescudi, for his part, sounds more energized than he has in quite a while, excited by the opportunity to reconnect with some of his old friends.

Here’s Kids See Ghosts (finally). You're welcome.

1. FEEL THE LOVE (FEAT. PUSHA T)

The fuck even was this shit? Cudi repeats the same phrase throughout the “Feel The Love” run time, and the only actual words ‘Ye speaks on here are, “Where the chorus?”: all of his other vocal contributions consist of his attempting to sound like the drums on the Kanye beat (which is also credited to eight other artists and entities, no bullshit). “Feel The Love” is just a Pusha T song in disguise, as he receives the most screen time, so it’s too bad that his verse fucking sucks. “Love to fuck to trap music / Dope money just came along”? What the hell, bro? And considering how it is Kanye’s forte to not even start recording projects until a few days before their projected release date nowadays, it isn’t unfair to conclude that King Push wrote these lyrics after DAYTONA dropped, which now has me worried that he’s run out of material. Cudi’s lone vocal, which he probably recorded once and then Kanye looped it up multiple times, is alright, as is the background music whenever #MAGA ‘Ye isn’t trying to mimic it. But seriously, guys, the mother fuck was this shit?

2. FIRE

Napoleon XIV’s “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” is both funny and creepy for a song released in 1966, so I’m fine with it being sampled on “Fire”, a track that should have opened Kids See Ghosts (even though Biz Markie has already used this sample, but whatever). Production duties are handled by five people, including West, Mescudi, and Andre 3000, of all people, although he probably did as much work behind the boards as he did on ‘Ye’s “30 Hours” vocally. The beat is very good, though, and that fragment looped up at the very end should be thrown on top of a drum machine and used by someone quickly. Kanye spits the first verse, which is, obviously, self-congratulatory, as this is Kanye West we’re talking about here, but his line about being “through with mixed messages” reads as false if you’ve paid any attention to his moronic #MAGA antics, even after he allegedly stepped away from politics. Cudi fares much better, turning to his religion to feel at peace, and his hook sounds pleasant as well. “Fire” works on nearly every single level that “Feel The Love” did not: is it too late to replace ‘Ye with Pusha T on here? I know it isn’t, because West loves to tinker with his work even long after its release date, so…

3. 4TH DIMENSION (FEAT. LOUIS PRIMA)

I’m one hundred percent certain that “4th Dimension” would have received far more attention and airplay had Kanye not alienated a good chunk of his audience prior to this past summer, as it is a legitimately a great song. Louis Prima’s sampled vocals are incorporated into the (very good) beat, so he receives a feature credit (not unlike Otis Redding on The Throne’s “Otis”), and they sound both creepy and have a nostalgic bent to them, an interesting combination for a song that is straight-up boasts-n-bullshit. ‘Ye kicks things off with his most playful verse in a while, even with the reference to “accidental” anal sex that would have sounded disgusting coming from the man even before the #TimesUp era, while Cudi sounds like he gives a shit about the art of rap, embracing the shit-talk that is inherent within the genre. The light scratching at the end was a nice surprise: obviously Kanye West hasn’t abandoned hip hop entirely (yet). I’d add this one to my Yeezy playlist, if only that were something I still wanted to listen to these days. But I liked this one a lot.

4. FREEEE (GHOST TOWN, PT. 2) (FEAT. TY DOLLA $IGN)

This is a sequel to “Ghost Town”, a track that had been released just a week prior on ye, built around the last line from guest 070 Shake (“Nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda free”), who, for whatever reason, doesn’t pop up on here in any fashion, Weird. Instead, Kanye and Cudi opt to make it a sausagefest, bringing in Ty Dollar $ign to sing-rap about feeling free, or, if you like deeper readings into this kind of shit, fooling themselves into feeling more free than they actually are. Which would play into ‘Ye’s idea of how he thinks slavery works. Ugh, did I just ruin this song for you two? I don’t care: it isn’t good enough to defend, even if Ty’s vocals are alright and the music rocks much more than one would expect. It just left me feeling hollow is all.

5. REBORN

One of those songs where Yeezy’s remaining fans believe it to be deeper than it really is, at least on West’s part. “Reborn” is a quieter track that touches on how mental illness has affected the lives of both of our hosts, but while Cudi’s battles with depression have been well-documented in the past, Kanye’s are of the more recent variety, and hearing him blame his troubles on his anxiety and such when he ranted in the fucking White House in front of his orange BFF about how his bipolar disorder was “misdiagnosed” not only sounds like he’s full of shit, it’s disrespectful to people who really do suffer from mental illness, as it discounts their problems and discourages them from ever seeking treatment, especially when Kanye West actually is in a financial position to take care of himself. Erase West and his selfish ass from “Reborn”, and I could see how this could have been as inspirational as some folks claim it to be. Cudi, in fact, sounds genuine. But received as is, nope. This also has the exact same message as the previous track, so was there really a need to include both? One important note – “Reborn” was not produced by Kanye West, so that narrative about his having fully produced five albums in five weeks is patently false.

6. KIDS SEE GHOSTS (FEAT. YAASIN BEY)

Kanye did produce this title track, however, alongside Cudi and Plain Pat, among others, and the end result is pretty dope. Mos Def Yaasin Bey provides a simple hook and an unnecessary monologue toward the end: those of you two who were hoping for a verse can keep on dreaming, I suppose. Cudi performs the first verse this time around, which I honestly can’t remember anything about because of his co-star. Kanye West doesn’t exactly “snap” on “Kids See Ghosts”, but the song is his to lose, as he spits an extra-long (if not Cappadonna “Winter Warz”-esque) verse that literally kicks off with the line, “Well, it took me long enough to rap on this strong enough”, which definitely refers to this track but could be said about Kids See Ghosts as a whole, as he sounds hungry. Well, peckish, anyway. I liked the music here more than anything else.

7. CUDI MONTAGE

In opposition to what I wrote about Pusha T’s involvement earlier in the project, the presence of Mr. Hudson on the album finale “Cudi Montage” leads me to believe that Kanye West had been holding onto this track for a while, which doesn’t make sense, as he didn’t produce on this one, either. Rather, this is absolutely a Kid Cudi song (produced by Mescudi alongside frequent collaborators Dot da Genius and Mike Dean) that happens to feature a verse from West. Over a looped sample from a Kurt Cobain demo called “Burn The Rain” that sounds fucking flames, Cudi waxes poetically about his mental health once again, while ‘ye switches tactics to discuss violence in the black community. Hudson provides assistance toward the end, but his role could have been filled by anyone, including the ghost of the late Kurt Cobain, who steals the show with his guitar work on the sample anyway. So there.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Kids See Ghosts is far more entertaining than ye ever could be, but that still isn’t saying much, because for a seven-song album, only a handful of tracks are even worth listening to a second or third time. The music is definitely there, for the most part: the beats successfully cater to the needs and impulses of both Kanye West and Kid Cudi and will easily appeal to fans of both. My biggest issue was with some of the lyrics: Cudi may be reborn on Kids See Ghosts, but at times he resorts to navel-gazing antics that aren’t as entertaining to listen to as he may believe, while West’s bars, while apolitical, still veer into unimpressive boasts-n-bullshit. I did like this one far more than ye, however, so I feel as though I’m being harder on it that I should be. I truly enjoyed a few of the songs, and I’m much more likely to revisit Kids See Ghosts, especially with some of the more inventive musical cues (Louis Prima? Kurt Cobain? Yes, please). But let’s not pretend that Kids See Ghosts is perfect, and let’s definitely stop pushing forth the narrative that Kanye West produced this one in full. He obviously didn’t, and that’s not a bad thing: it’s actually kind of nice that he let Cudi follow his own musical muses on here. Kids See Ghosts isn’t bad, and I wouldn’t hate seeing a follow-up, even though it’s looking more and more like that won’t be happening, as ‘Ye keeps putting convicted pedophiles and orange inflatable balloon men before anyone else in his life (aside from his wife and kids, probably, which, um, how does he explain the pedophile relationship to the fucking mother of his children?)

BUY OR BURN? I’m feeling generous here, so I say if you’re a Cudi fan, buy this shit. If you’re a Kanye stan, you already have this anyway, because you forgot this was a joint effort. But if you’re unfamiliar with the work of either man, first off, congratulations on that rock you’ve lived under for the past decade, and maybe you should stream it first. You may like some of what you hear.

BEST TRACKS: “4th Dimension”; “Fire”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Obviously I’ve written about Kanye West in the past, but there’s a bit here about Kid Cudi as well.