It's a strange day to be a Kid Cudi fan.
With the release of "Perfect is the Word," the Cleveland rapper has officially taken the ill-advised route of ditching hip-hop for droning, dreary rock 'n' roll. Cudi's fascination with rock is nothing new (his best song, "Pursuit of Happiness," features MGMT and Ratatat, while "Erase Me" is built around cheesy Weezer guitars), but "Perfect is the Word" is an entirely different, ultimately ugly beast.
Along with producer Dot Da Genius, Cudder is fronting a rock project titled 2 Be Continuum (clearly the music isn't the only problem), and their first offering is a swirling mess. Cudi's vocals — including a new, perplexing rock accent — are trapped under Black Sabbath guitar tones and sweeping strings. It's three minutes of rambling, with a primary focus on creating a dank mood. Too bad that "mood" is the audio equivalent of trapping a listener in a soaked cardboard box with no exit. We're at the mercy of Cudi's vaguely existential lyrics ("Safety is the word / it's the main thing the lost souls want"), asking ourselves, "Wasn't this the guy that did 'Day N Nite'?" On Twitter, Cudi takes a predictable stance: If you want his old sound, buy his old albums. For him, this is about artistic evolution. It's a cute, tightly wrapped defense but it's exclusionary, leaving a huge chunk of fans that connected with his idiosyncratic rapping in that cardboard box. You're either with him and his new rock vision, or you're not. And if you're not, you don't support the Artist, as if blind following should be the listener's pre-set prerogative.