Man On The Moon III: The Chosen

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AlbumDec 11 / 202018 songs, 58m 24s
Pop Rap Trap
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“Every time I make a record, I\'m learning something new about myself,” Kid Cudi tells Apple Music. “I didn\'t realize that my father\'s death really had an impact on me in the way that it did until I started writing about it: \'Oh, I guess being alone is an issue for me. I guess being depressed is an issue.\' I\'m just making music, I\'m just doing what feels right, but this shit is coming out and it\'s things that I probably didn\'t pinpoint \[in the moment\].” The issues Cudi mentions have been emerging for him since his beginnings as the “lonely stoner,” a New York City-via-Cleveland cool kid who assured a generation of rappers to follow him that it was plenty OK to acknowledge your own inexplicable melancholy. *Man on the Moon III: The Chosen*, which returns to a naming convention Cudi hadn’t utilized since 2010’s *Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager* (with four solo and two collaborative albums in between), finds him in a sort of post-discovery nirvana, coming clean about his mental-health journey (“Mr Solo Dolo III”), his relationship with his mother (“Elsie’s Baby Boy \[flashback\]”), and the power of his celebrity (“4 Da Kidz”). “I was already in a really good place working on *Entergalactic* \[his forthcoming animated series and soundtrack\], going crazy on ‘THE SCOTTS’—but then I was making something else that didn\'t fit those two projects. After two or three songs, I was like, \'Whoa, this shit really feels like a *Man on the Moon*. It sounds like you pick right back up where we left off 10 years ago.\'” Ten years ago, Kid Cudi was sidestepping being pigeonholed as an “emo rapper,” leaning even harder into his alias Mr. Rager, even when that meant looking at himself in the mirror after the partying was done, as reflected in *Man on the Moon II*’s latter half. For *Man on the Moon III*, he’s just as in touch with his feelings as he was on *II*—along with the rest of a dependably vulnerable catalog—it’s just that now those feelings are a bit more positive. “The whole flow of my life is like so in tune with like everything that I want it to be,” Cudi says. “I\'m solid with my baby’s mom. I\'m solid with my mom, I\'m solid with my sister. I\'m solid with my daughter. I\'m solid with my nieces. Everything\'s in place. And I\'m happy, you know?”

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4.9 / 10

The latest, underwhelming installment of the rapper’s cosmic album series arrives 11 years after the original and coasts on a legacy built a lifetime ago.

7 / 10

8 / 10

Kid Cudi's Man On The Moon trilogy finds a worthy finale in The Chosen

A cinematic masterstroke that electrifies the senses at every turn, the third instalment in the 'MOTM' trilogy offers a sense of closure

Rapper Kid Cudi's latest, 'Man on the Moon III: The Chosen' feels derivative compared to his influential early work. Rolling Stone's review.

The Cleveland rapper provides an optimistic and meditative conclusion to his decade-long trilogy with 'Man On The Moon III: The Chosen'

The first installment of Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon series was released in 2009, when he was just starting to establish himself as a distinctive creative force.

8 / 10

In October 2016, Kid Cudi had hit rock bottom. He checked himself into rehab and shared a heartbreaking letter on Facebook in which he descr...

9 / 10

Kid Cudi’s musical career has been one of ups and downs. His ‘Man On The Moon’ series has proved critically divisive, yet extremely

6 / 10

Kid Cudi returns with a third Man On The Moon record – it's not perfect, but he's always a compelling artist, and there are moments of brilliance here

60 %

3.6 / 5

Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon III: The Chosen review: Can't lose 'em in the third act.