Rob's Album of The Week: WZRD

Usually when a hip-hop artist ventures into the rock genre, it provides mixed results. It could be a complete masterpiece like Run D.M.C.'s amazing rock-tinged debut album back in the 80's along with their collaboration with Aerosmith on "Walk This Way", or it could be a complete failure like Lil' Wayne's Rebirth (which always makes me want to puke). When you combine rock & roll with hip-hop, you're always playing with fire. Sometimes you set the world on fire and sometimes you get shot down in flames.

Thankfully, Cleveland hip-hopper Kid Cudi has come out with an experimental rock project titled WZRD and it's actually pretty damn good. With guitar riffs and drum beats accented by producer Dot Da Genius' skills, WZRD is a unique combination of two genres that are always very tricky when you put them together. Surprisingly, Cudi is able to pull it off with his poetic lyrics and eclectic songwriting abilities.

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The single "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie" is definitely the most poppy song on the record with Cudi poetically crooning about missing a love that is too far away, "Love Hard" exemplifies a unique combination of a punk style guitar riff with a classical violin and funky drums that describes the joy of following your heart instead of just settling for something safe, "Live & Learn" has a simple guitar riff with Cudi singing about not dwelling on mistakes and then in the last minute morphs into a Pink Floydian psychedelic opus, "Dr. Pill" oozes with synth beats and infectious rhythms I can definitely see sampled by another hip-hop artist for a hit single and Cudi plays a classic rendition of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" that was also made famous as being Nirvana's last song they played on MTV's Unplugged back in 1993.

Currently, WZRD will be touring Europe and the United States in April but no exact dates have been released yet. So us hip-hop and experimental rock fans will have to be patient and wait until the tour dates are set while hoping and praying that Cudi's new project appears at their local music venue.

If you like hip-hop, rock & roll and music that flat out has a rhythm of it's own, grab a copy of Kid Cudi's WZRD. It'll definitely give your ears a taste of what a perfect cross-genre record can do for your soul. 

- Rob Duguay