Although similar in several ways, Kid Cudi's sophomore album Man On The Moon II: The Legend of Mr.Rager doesn't quite live up to his debut: Man on the Moon: End of Day. Like End of Day, MOTM 2 takes multiple listens to truely appreciate. Both albums are dark in nature, but the atmosphere in The Legend of Mr. Rager is much more downbeat and depressing.End of Day showed Kid Cudi's best qualities as an artist: his ability to vent, his accessibility, and his ear for excellent beats. With The Legend of Mr.Rager, all these qualities are downplayed. Two problems I've always had with Cudi are his limited vocal abilities and his sometimes indecipherable mumble-rap. It wasn't a huge inconvenience in End of Day, but with The Legend of Mr. Rager, it's a chore to understand most of Cudi's poorly enunciated verses. This in turn ruined the accessibility of most of the songs; regardless of the music.
On the topic of the music, majority of the beats here aren't nearly as well-crafted as they were on his debut, which shined with production from the likes of Kanye West and Ratatat. Many of Emile's and Plain Pat's beats sound like leftovers from End of Day that weren't good enough to make the cut. The combination of boring beats and Kid Cudi's mumbling make for a sloppy album. That's not to say that all the songs are bad, it's just that many of them have the potential to be better, resulting in an inconsistent effort. Speaking of inconsistency, the album's breakout single: Erase Me, doesn't fit in with the album's tone at all, and it's inclusion on the album feels forced. Although Man on the Moon II fails to live up to Kid Cudi's ability, there are enough choice cuts t0 salvage the album from total disaster.
6/10
Choice Cuts:
Scott Mescudi Vs. The World ft. Cee-Lo Green
Don't Play This Song ft. Mary J. Blige
Mr. Rager
These Worries ft. Mary J. Blige
The End ft. GLC, Chip Tha Ripper, Nicole Wray
All Along
Trapped in My Mind
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