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Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020)

Where the lyrics of Man on the Moon III: The Chosen take you, and where it was really made.

Cudi said in 2016 that Man on the Moon III would never exist, yet it came out in 2020 as the final part of the trilogy.

Key places

Recorded at EastWest Studios (2020)

Recording site EastWest Studios — The album's recording location is listed as EastWest Studios in Los Angeles. The pin marks that studio site. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Man on the Moon III: The Chosen is the seventh studio album by Kid Cudi
• Released December 11, 2020 by Wicked Awesome Records and Republic Records
• Final installment of the Man on the Moon trilogy
• 18 tracks divided into four acts
• Concept album in which Cudi struggles against his evil alter ego, Mr. Rager
• Guest vocals from Phoebe Bridgers, Pop Smoke, Skepta and Trippie Redd

Background

• The first two parts were Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009) and Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)
• Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014) was called a prelude to Man on the Moon III
• In a 2016 Billboard interview, Cudi said Man on the Moon III would never exist
• Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016) was later revealed to have originally been planned as Man on the Moon III
• Cudi officially confirmed Man on the Moon III in October 2020

Recording

• Produced mainly by Cudi and Dot da Genius, with Plain Pat, Emile Haynie and Mike Dean
• Take a Daytrip was added to the production team and is prominent across the album
• Tequila Shots, Another Day and She Knows This were recorded with Dot da Genius and Take a Daytrip and laid the foundation for the album
• Cudi adopted Kanye West's writing process while making the album

Cover

• Designed by illustrator Sam Spratt
• Cudi stares directly at the listener, unlike earlier covers where he looks downward
• The right side of his face is a prismatic burst of bones and sinew, with a moon and a falling moon man covering one eye

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org · ko.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, known as Kid Cudi, was born January 30, 1984 in Cleveland, Ohio.
• He began rapping in 2003 and moved to New York City in 2005 to pursue a music career.
• His song "Day 'n' Nite" gained online attention in 2007, leading Kanye West to sign him to GOOD Music in 2008.
• His debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi was released in July 2008.

Career

• Debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009) reached commercial and critical success and received quadruple platinum certification.
• Second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010) received platinum certification.
• Formed the rock band WZRD, whose 2012 debut topped the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
• Album Indicud (2013) peaked at number two on the Billboard 200.
• Formed the duo Kids See Ghosts with Kanye West in 2018.
• Single "The Scotts" with Travis Scott (2020) became his first number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Released Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020) and Entergalactic (2022).
• Acted in HBO's How to Make It in America, Need for Speed, and Bill & Ted Face the Music, among other works.
• Won two Grammy Awards and has sold over 22 million units domestically.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Man on the Moon III: The Chosen received mostly positive reviews from music critics
• Critics praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts
• Some critics found the album derivative of Cudi's earlier albums
• Riley Wallace of Exclaim! wrote that Cudi sparkles in the first two acts and that the strongest moments come in the third and fourth
• Luke Ballance of The Line of Best Fit complimented the guest appearances and the album's progression beyond Act II
• Mason Meyers of Clash dubbed it Cudi's best solo album to date and praised the production
• Will Lavin of NME praised the mood music and Cudi's willingness to lay out his insecurities
• Fred Thomas of AllMusic described it as a return to form and a distillation of Cudi's experiments with genre

Reappraisal

• Metacritic gave an average score of 71 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.9 out of 10
• Critics generally found the first half of the album weaker
• Danny Schwartz of Rolling Stone described the narrative as more half-baked than that of Man on the Moon II
• Alphonse Pierre of Pitchfork found the album underwhelming and said its second half was too reminiscent of Cudi's past works
• Some critics found the album unoriginal

Records

• Debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 144,000 album-equivalent units, including 15,000 pure sales
• Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US
• 167.45 million on-demand streams in the week ending December 17, 2020
• 18 simultaneous placements on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart
• Nine entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with Tequila Shots highest at number 41 and Beautiful Trip at number 100
• In December 2021, broke the Nielsen record for the biggest vinyl sales week by a male artist and by a rap album, with 41,500 vinyl units

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'Beautiful Trip', the intro, interpolates sounds from 'In My Dreams', the first track on The End of Day
• 'Tequila Shots' began as a celebration with producers after 'The Scotts' became Cudi's first US number one
• A deluxe edition called The Cudder Cut was announced on December 20, 2020, then dropped in May 2021 to focus on new material
• In April 2021 Cudi was the sole musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing in tribute to Kurt Cobain and wearing a dress
• An Amazon-exclusive EP, Prime Day Show x Kid Cudi, came out on June 17, 2021 with alternate versions of three songs
• The December 7, 2020 cinematic trailer revealed the title, release date, tracklist and cover art

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

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