Kid Cudi excites crowd with an original set
By Aitor Zabalegui
This past Saturday at the Leavey Center, the Activities Programming Board presented Kid Cudi, the most prevalent artist Santa Clara University has seen in years.
The Cleveland rapper has gained significant success in his brief career, already working with the likes of Kanye West, Common and Jay-Z.
Cudi's first single "Day 'n' Nite" reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, helping propel his debut album, "Man on the Moon: The End of Day" to #4 on the charts. Cudi benefited greatly from the exposure he received from hip-hop virtuoso and notorious "jackass" Kanye West. West heard a mixtape Cudi had released and immediately signed him on to his label, GOOD Music. "Things kind of blew up on me, but the grind wasn't overnight," said Cudi after his performance Saturday night.
Opener Milkman provided ample entertainment, creating mash-ups including samples from Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" to "The Office" theme song. The San Diego artist played a whopping hour and a half, which uncharacteristically ended up being longer than Cudi's set. The crowd didn't seem to mind, however, with several girls filling up the stage dancing along -- and some flamboyantly stealing the spotlight from the DJ.
The crowd seemed relieved when Cudi finally opened things up with "Soundtrack 2 My Life," which is, ironically, a rather depressing song heavy in suicidal overtones. Cudi touched on his evidently tormented lyrics stating, "My songs can be melancholy in nature at times, but at the end of the record, they're really uplifting." Cudi's father passed away from cancer when he was eleven, overtly causing a huge influence on his life and his music.
According to Cudi, Kanye West really "kicked down the door and made it so I can have a voice in hip-hop. Now I'm just telling my story."
Cudi also received plenty of attention from the indie community with the Italian DJ duo Crooker's remix of his hit, "Day 'n' Nite" and his collaboration with indie darlings Ratatat and MGMT on "Pursuit of Happiness."
He frankly mentioned that currently, "The indie scene has the best music," a sentiment that has also been expressed by Jay-Z. He added, "I don't know if my fans know this, but I hate this business." He articulated how difficult it is to retain artistic freedom when labels are constantly trying to manipulate your creativity as an artist. The indie community, on the other hand, is "hungrier," said Cudi, and their music is "straight-up the artist's vision."
Luckily, Cudi was adamant that his record company "wasn't even around during the creative process, and when we finished it, we were like, 'hey, this is the album.'" GOOD Music, in a smart move, accepted Cudi's final product, which received most of its praise from its originality.
Though the album contains many spaced out tracks unheard of in most hip-hop, Cudi got the most response from Saturday's crowd performing his arguably less original tracks. The audience rushed the floor for "Make Her Say," which was initially titled, "I Poke Her Face," a song mainly composed of a Lady GaGa sample. Based off of first-week sales and chart positions, Cudi said, "I've proven myself. Now the record companies are saying, 'We gotta trust this kid.'"
On the prospect of a new album, Cudi declared, "I'm taking some time to be normal and keep my sanity. I've got a lot more living to do before I can even write another album because my albums are based on my life." He went on to say that the next album could even take three years to develop if it had to, and he's interested in "getting Ratatat on board again."
Cudi refused to leave the stage for an encore following "Day 'n' Nite," considering it "a waste of time, and I don't want to put you through that."
He closed the set with "Alive (Nightmare)," with an exuberant crowd raising their hands in the air in admiration, approval and adieu.
Contact Aitor Zabalegui at (408) 551-1918 or azabalegui@scu.edu
henrys%207%20bw_opt.jpgby michael erkelens--the santa clarahenrys%208%20bw_opt.jpgby Michael erkelens--the santa claracudi%204%20bw%20_opt.jpgKid Cudi performs for an enthusiastic crowd under the Leavey Center lights.by Michael Erkelens--the santa claraIMG_1850%20bw_opt.jpgMilkman spins his tracks. He was later joined on stage by a lively group of students.by Will danse--the santa clara