REVIEW: Man On The Moon II By Kid Cudi

4 Stars.

Scott Mescudi aka Kid Cudi suffered his share of controversy last year with reports of a former cocaine addiction, telling fans he was bored with rap and his tendency to rage after a few too many drinks. On his sophomore effort Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr Rager, he lets his personal life impact his music with a genre-bending album that's moody, dark and brilliant.

Production is really where this album stands out and it was a brave move to go in a completely different direction than his uplifting debut. Atmospheric tracks like The Mood, The End and Maniac put a spacey touch on rap while REVOFEV and Erase Me take a stab at 70s psychedelia. Cudi addresses his personal issues directly, whether he is discussing anger problems "I found a monster in me when I lost my cool" or being outside of the hip-hop mould "cudi's lame, wearing a kilt he must be gay".

Despite being an almost claustrophobic listen with its brooding negativity, none of the tracks are particularly skip-worthy. You could complain that Don't Play This Song would be a lot better without the consistently melodramatic Mary J. Blige, or that Wild'n Cuz I'm Young is too long, and of course you would be right, but you'd also be nit-picking.

With minimal guest features, Cudi definitely made the right choice in making this a personal venture rather than a collaborative album, as originally planned. Guests such as Cee-Lo Green and relative unknowns Cage and St. Vincent actually bring something additional to the table instead of carrying the whole project.

A special mention also goes to Chip Tha Ripper who is a great rapper in his own right and someone who I'm sure we will be hearing more from in the future. Check out his mix tape The Cleveland Show if you’re still an unbeliever.

Pity he was only featured on track fourteen The End.

It's not quite as fresh and suddenly appealing as his prior release, but for better or worse, this album is fully injected with Mescudi's personality. One-dimensional rappers such as Drake or Wiz Khalifa could never pull something like this off.

Let's see if he can show Lil Wayne how do to a proper alt-rock album this year with his upcoming project Wizard.

Review by Jimmy Ness