Kid Cudi's INSANO-Overhyped?

By: Lincoln Puls

April 3, 2024

      With a two-year long break, Kid Cudi released his highly anticipated ninth studio album INSANO on January 12. Fans were excited for the release of INSANO when it was projected to be released in September of 2023, but he delayed it to January via a tweet on X because: “...I want to make sure that everything lines up and I give y’all the best version of myself...” The hype was there but the repetitive songs makes it a boring listen. INSANO has 21 songs on it and has features with the likes of Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky and even XXXTENTACION. 

Cudi’s first two songs in the album called “OFTEN, I HAVE THESE DREAMZ” and “KEEP BOUNCIN’” are both of them are very repetitive but they also set the scene for the rest of the album. Cudi’s collaboration with Scott on “GET OFF ME” was also very repetitive and Scott really didn’t add as much lyrical value as I thought he would. “MOST AIN’T DENNIS” stands out from the previous three songs because it flows better and has a faster rhythm and lyrical flow but it's still too repetitive.  

The eighth song on the album, “CUD LIFE,” is one of the worst songs on the album. Its flow is blocky and really doesn’t have any value to the rest of the album. Cudi’s 9th song “TOO DAMN HIGH” is significantly better than “CUD LIFE”. Its flow is better and is less blocky. Lil Yachty appeared in this song and didn't significantly improve it, but it wasn't bad. “GECHA GONE” is faster paced and the lyrics flow well with each other, this makes it one of the top three songs in the album.  

Another top three song in INSANO is “At The Party.” It’s repetitive but with the contrasting voices and style of each artist on the song it makes it great. This is the best feature song on the album because Pharell Williams was a feature and his contrasting style from Cuti and Scott. Scott also brought it more than he did in “GET OFF ME,” which made the song better as a whole. 

Cudi’s 12th song on the album is “MR. COOLA” this song has a good flow switch in the middle of it which makes it satisfying to listen to, but it is very repetitive especially in the beginning verses. Another song that is fun to listen to is “FRESHIE”, which, unlike the majority of the album, has a slower pace and lyrical flow to it which makes it a good listen.  

The album in a whole was decent, but in most of the songs it didn’t impact me as much as I thought he could have, and the majority of the features were ok at best.