Kid Cudi and Kanye West. CudYe? KidYe? It doesn't matter what you call this duo, they continue to push out gold. I say continue because Cudi had a large part in 808s and Heartbreak, my favorite Kanye album (currently). They wrote Heartless, Paranoid, RoboCop, and Welcome to Heartbreak with Cudi being featured on that last one. After a much needed hiatus, Kid Cudi is back to making music and this time he's back at it with Kanye West on the spooky experimental Kids See Ghosts.
Feel The Love-
Lyrics- There is one verse on this song and it belongs to Pusha-T, who is not a part of Kids See Ghosts. Pusha-T proved that his lyricism is still on another level with his own Kanye-produced album Daytona and he continues to do that here. His flow is amazing and the content is the same stuff we've heard from him on Daytona. I do wish Kanye had a verse on here but I am content with the short verse from Pusha.
Instrumental- If you've read anything else I have written about Kanye, you know that he loves to start his albums in an unorthodox way. Everything about this song's instrumental is unorthodox.
The song starts out with a really simple instrumental and Cudi yelling, which is really captivating. It keeps you on your toes wondering which one of the two is going to come in with the first verse. Then, right when it almost gets to be too much you hear... Pusha T's voice? Yup. Pusha T has the opening verse on this album and it works. The dark instrumental sounds like a hybrid between Daytona and Ye, which proves two things. First, it will always show that the series of albums that Kanye produced were from the Wyoming sessions which I think it's cool. We didn't get that with the Hawaii sessions, honestly. Second, it shows that these 7 song albums were genius. I can throw Daytona, Ye, and Kids See Ghosts in a playlist and it works perfectly well as a 21 song album.
I realize that I have to acknowledge Kanye's noises in this song and I'm not sure if I have the words for it. But they match the percussion really well .. because they are the percussion. The "real" percussion almost acts as a secondary part of this song and that's okay.
That little breakdown is really cool too because it's almost there to help you catch your breath and it is a way to keep the song from feeling like it's too much. That is until Kanye forces the chorus back in, which is hilarious.
7.5/10
This is a really good way to start the album even if it ends up alienating some people with Kanye's noises. It's unorthodox but it works. Also, Bon Iver helped produce this track and that's cool
Fire-
Lyrics - 2 short and sweet verses in this song are perfect. The material is surprisingly deep if you pay attention yet still really catchy if you don't. Both Kanye and Cudi are at their strongest lyrical point in their career right now and this song is an example of that.
Instrumental - Slow but hard. Iconic Cudi humming. Weird wind instruments? This song has it all. It's a headbanger and never fails to pump me up. There really isn't much to say other than good job Kanye because this is a super atmospheric beat that is honestly just special. I especially love the guitar at the end. The mixing feels a little weird though and I can't quite put my finger on why. It's almost a little disorienting sometimes.
8/10
Kanye once again pushes hip-hop music past what people are comfortable with and creates an atmospheric track that essentially introduces the "spooky" feeling of the album. It's great but I feel like it could have been pushed a little harder. I wouldn't have minded a verse with that guitar at the end. For now it feels unfinished.
Fourth Dimension-
Lyrics- Kanye has some pretty average lyrics that feel like they're more than they actually are because they bring a little bit of a shock factor. Cudi steals the show here though. His minute long rap is dense in both meaning and actual words. Usually you get one or the other but Cudi manages to pull off both. The technical skills that Cudi showcases are amazing as well with internal rhymes everywhere in the verse.
Instrumental- This is a classic Kanye sample and it is amazing. Who else could take a 1936 Christmas song and use it as a sample in one of the hardest songs of 2018? The drums feel like they're floating all around you and it adds to the feeling of just sort of being in a place that isn't Earthly. In terms of flow and delivery, Kanye has a pretty average flow and a voice that feels a little too abrasive for this song. Cudi on the other hand, has the perfect tone, delivery, and flow.
7/10
Freeee (Ghost Town Pt 2)
Lyrics- Despite being one of the longer songs on the album, this song is probably the least dense in terms of lyrics. This is one of the songs that I feel doesn't have the traditional audience of the listeners/fans. Instead, it feels like a song that was made for Kanye and Cudi. Both of them have dealt with mental health issues including depression and heavy drug use. Both of them have been hospitalized and Cudi has been through rehab. This song is their way of saying that they are past most of those issues. I think that once you acknowledge that, the lack of depth in these lyrics is forgivable.
Instrumental- This song is so oddly structured. It has this synth and guitar working together to hit you like waves and accentuate the "Freeeee" vocals. Which, those vocals have grown on me. I hated them at first because they felt like they were pasted into the song without any consideration for the flow of the song but I guess I understand the whole "wave" aesthetic that they were going with.
5/10
While I get the reasons for making this song, it is one of the only songs from this summer drop that I would consider a filler song. It's not a bad song, but doesn't meet the standard set by the rest of the album.
Reborn-
Lyrics- If the last song was the cathartic climax, this one is the post-sex snuggle and reflection. Both of the verses in this song are beautifully reflective and forward-thinking at the same time. There's a direct acknowledgment of failure, reaction to the public's reaction, and also the fact that it doesn't matter to them anymore. My only gripe with the lyrics is the repetition. It's a little bit too much after the first few listens when you can get past the trance it tries to trap you in.
Instrumental - The soft piano and strings is a traditional combination that I was not expecting in this unorthodox album but anything else would have ruined the song, I think. I also can't talk about this instrumental and not talk about Cudi's humming. It's so good and it will always elevate any song. I would honestly listen to an entire song of just humming. This is a Cudi song and you can tell very clearly because of how well his rapping and singing fit in. Kanye also takes a different approach to his intonation when he raps but it's clear that this song was built around Cudi's vocals.
6.5/10
The only thing keeping this song from a 7 or a 7.5 is the fact that it feels like it drags on for too long for no reason.
Kids See Ghosts-
Lyrics- This song doesn't actually really say much. Kanye's verse is a jab at his critics and it isn't as substantial as a lot of his work. That is excusable though, since the instrumental is so good. Sometimes adding depth to stuff this atmospheric takes away from the atmosphere. I do think there's depth if you look deep enough though, I just don't think that was their intention and that's okay.
Instrumental - Yasiin Bey explain this best in a tweet that says "The title track was ethereal, spiritual. Cudi laced it with dark chants, then spit. New Kanye came with his part. I'm sure other stuff was added. The mood was ghostly." He nails the description perfectly. It is probably the spookiest song on the album and it encompasses the mood of the album perfectly. Again, Cudi's humming on this track takes it to another level yet the theme of this song is restraint. The humming, the strings, the singing, the percussion, and pretty much everything except for Kanye's rapping feels like it's tiptoeing around trying to not be noticed and it's super atmospheric. Then of course Kanye comes in like it's nothing but it somehow doesn't take away from the atmosphere.
7.5/10
It's Kids See Ghosts on Kids See Ghosts by Kids See Ghosts!
Cudi Montage-
Lyrics- This song is probably the most dense when it comes down to lyrics on the album. Both Kanye and Cudi have a lot to say and they do it elegantly and succinctly on this track. Kanye's verse deals with the problems of gang violence through a small anecdote that is easily understood. He also has a call to action at the end by calling out the wrongful imprisonment of African Americans like Alice Johnson, which pushes his verse from good to great in my opinion. While Cudi's verse is more personal, the idea is very similar to that of Kanye's verse. He talks about problems that he has encountered and gives an outline of how to fix them.
Instrumental - The Kurt Cobain sample is really cool and fits in with the aesthetic of the album but otherwise this instrumental isn't too special. That's okay though because the lyrics pick up the slack. Again, Cudi's humming is amazing though and it closes out this album perfectly.
8/10
This album is Kanye's most artistically driven album in his discography and he pulls off the aesthetic extremely well. I never knew how much I needed a CudYe album until this came out but I am glad that it did. I don't have much to say about the album as a whole but it's beautiful and cohesive and short enough to where I don't feel like an ass if I tell everyone to listen to it at least once.