Indicud is the third studio album by the American rapper Kid Cudi. It was released on April 12, 2013, by GOOD Music, Wicked Awesome Records, and Republic Records. It was the first album of Cudi's solo career to not be an installment of his Man on the Moon series. The album's cover artwork was designed by Kid Cudi himself, who also served as an executive producer of Indicud. It was Cudi's goal to make more uptempo and positive music with the album. He described it as a completely new format compared to his previous albums.
The album's record production was handled entirely by Cudi as well, with only record producer Hit-Boy co-producing one track, while Cudi's WZRD bandmate Dot da Genius, provided drums on two. The album features guest appearances from King Chip, Kendrick Lamar, Too Short, RZA, ASAP Rocky, Father John Misty, Michael Bolton and Haim.
During the early release of Indicud, it was preceded by four singles – "Just What I Am", "King Wizard", "Immortal" and "Girls". Indicud debuted at number two in the United States. With sales of 139,000 copies and debuted at number 32 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Cudi's highest-charting album on the chart, while entering at number two on the UK R&B Chart. The album received mixed reviews from critics.
Background After his crossover into rock music with Dot da Genius, on their project WZRD (2012), Kid Cudi soon began working on his third solo studio album. The album was initially going to be the third installment to his Man on the Moon series, which he announced when he revealed he would not be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, to focus on his rock project and "MOTM3". Be that as it may, in the summer of 2012 Cudi announced the title of his third studio album when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". The title Indicud, is a play-on-words on the putative species of the genus Cannabis, indica, and Cudi's own name.
On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, would be a double-disc album, until tweeting on October 28, 2012, that "Indicud will not be a double disc but will contain a maximum of 17 brand new jams." Kid Cudi also tweeted: "The overall tone of indicud is positive and confident," adding: "The energy of Indicud is its own new thing. New format with some of my favorite musical tricks here and there. The album moves dope".
Before the album's release, in December 2012, Cudi dedicated Indicud to the late Ben Breedlove and all his fans who died, continuing: "My journey shall continue in your honor. Never forgotten." The dedication was ultimately included in the album's liner notes. The album is upbeat and optimistic, very much unlike his previous studio album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010), which was considered darkly erratic. The positive vibe stems from Cudi's desire to always change and reinvent:
After announcing his departure from GOOD Music, Cudi revealed Indicud would be his last album under the label, adding that only the first 200,000 copies printed would have the GOOD Music logo on it; making them collector's items.
Recording
In April 2012, in Geneseo, New York, Cudi performed before a sold-out crowd and premiered a hip-hop song, his first since 2010. During his set, he performed a new record, tentatively titled "The Leader of the Delinquents", which he did a cappella. On April 25, 2012, Cudi was officially back to rapping with the release of "Dennis, Hook Me Up with Some More of That Whiskey!". The song, the first ever solely produced by Cudi himself, samples his 2010 song "Ghost!". On July 10, 2012, via his Twitter feed, Cudi announced collaborations on the album thus far, as the album had not yet been completed, to be Pusha T, Jaden Smith and Kendrick Lamar, along with more familiar collaborators Kanye West, King Chip and Cage. He also revealed he was hoping to collaborate with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Diplo and MGMT. In September, he had also expressed interest in working with Harlem-bred rapper ASAP Rocky on Indicud. On October 1, 2012, Cudi confirmed that production from electronic rock duo Ratatat, with whom he collaborated on "Pursuit of Happiness" and "Alive" from his debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), would be featured on Indicud.
On October 9 and 12, Cudi released pictures of him and Dot da Genius in the studio working on the album. On November 6, 2012, Cudi made it known that he was in the studio that day working with fellow American rapper J. Cole. On November 17, 2012, via his Twitter feed, Cudi announced the song he recorded with Kendrick Lamar was produced by himself and is titled "Solo Dolo, Part II". He also stated his former GOOD Music label-mate Common would be featured on the album, on a song produced by Dot da Genius and Cudi's mentor 88-Keys. On February 13, 2013, via Twitter, Cudi revealed he previewed the album to friend and fellow American actor, Mark Webber, and asked him to share his thoughts on the album, as a favor to the fans. During his barrage of tweets, Webber gave insight on the album, revealing Too Short and Wu-Tang Clan's RZA as features, as well as praising Cudi's production, rapping and singing. Unlike his previous albums, Indicud is primarily produced by Cudi himself.
In an interview with Billboard, released March 2013, Cudi confirmed he was working closely with ASAP Rocky, while also revealing Haim, an all-female indie rock band, would appear on the album on a song produced by high-profile American record producer Hit-Boy and himself. On April 2, 2013, Hit-Boy, claimed besides Cudi, he was the only other person to provide production on the album. Cudi later confirmed the statement via Twitter. Cudi and Hit-Boy had been working on the aforementioned song since January 2011. The track is also the first record the two of them ever worked on together.
Production
In an April 2013 interview, Cudi told MTV News how his collaboration with "the '80s legend" Michael Bolton came about: "My mom is a huge fan so I grew up hearing him in the household and he did the song with The Lonely Island that I thought that was genius. I love those guys' work and seeing what they did with Michael they really used him, but I was like man I wanna use him in a way where I'm not tryna make a joke or anything – I just wanna use the mightiness of his voice in a way that's never been done before." "I reached out," Cudi added, "he responded immediately and we were able to get him in the studio for like three hours and most of the time he spent talking and just dropping science. It was really cool to have his energy and just to be around him because he's such a legend, so down to earth and cool. He was like the uncle I never had."
Cudi also incorporated quotes from his favorite movies into the album, wherever he saw fit. The first release with a movie quote was "Immortal", where Cudi sampled Adam Sandler in his 1995 film Billy Madison: "That’s one of my favorite movies, man. From my childhood, straight up. I love Adam Sandler. Throughout the album I wanted to include clips from some of my favorite movies to kind of narrate the album a bit and liven it up and give it some personality." He declared that throughout the album, people will hear scenes from several different movies:
With Indicud, on several tracks Cudi took a backseat in vocals to rather showcase his production skills. "The focus was on producing the record for Kendrick, I wanted to shine as a producer first. I wanted to show that side off more than anything else and that's why I had my one verse then let Kendrick go ape-sh-- crazy all over the rest of it." As for the ASAP Rocky feature on "Brothers", Cudi explained that he made the decision to go with a minimal hook and let the Harlem rapper dominate the track: "I felt like that was a perfect beat for ASAP to get on there and speak some truths and talk to the younger generation, because he's in a place where a lot of kids are up to him and Kendrick. I just wanted to hear him say something a little bit more thoughtful, and he did that – he showed up. I was blown away by his craftsmanship, his professionalism and his overall mojo."
Release and promotion On October 28, 2012, after previously announcing hopes of releasing the album in late 2012, Cudi changed the estimate release date from late 2012 to early 2013. In late November, Cudi made it known he would be withholding the album's exact release date, until it was certain, to avoid push backs. On December 18, 2012, the same day promotional single "King Wizard" was officially released, Cudi revealed the album would be released in March 2013. On February 12, he announced the album's release date to be April 23, 2013. After the album leaked online in its entirety on April 9, 2013, Kid Cudi decided to push the album's release date up to April 16.
In early January, the album was named the ninth most anticipated album of 2013 by Complex and the 14th most anticipated album by XXL. In early 2013, Cudi covered Complexs February/March 2013 issue. In January 2013, Cudi took to Twitter to express his frustrations with record label, Universal Republic, not supporting and promoting his music. After providing facts about singles "Just What I Am" and "King Wizard", defending their strong online presence and lamenting about not getting radio play, Cudi tweeted, "if things dont change soon, theres gonna be some problems."
On March 14, 2013, Kid Cudi performed at Myspace's South by Southwest (SXSW) secret show in Austin, Texas and after performing his many hits, he previewed a new verse from Indicud. He also revealed that the album would feature 18 tracks, while officially confirming ASAP Rocky and Michael Bolton as featured guests. On March 16, Cudi announced that he would release the album's track list and cover art on April 2. Three days later, Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that the album had officially been completed and turned in to his label, Universal Republic. On March 26, the album's cover art and track list was unveiled by Walmart and later Complex. After the album cover's unveiling, Cudi took to Twitter to explain his decision for the artwork: "The album art represents me. A ball of flames in a rose gold frame." The cover's art direction was handled by Cudi himself. In December 2013, it would be named the sixteenth best album cover of 2013 by Complex. Later that day, Cudi appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the album's lead singles; "Just What I Am" and "Immortal", as well as premiering "Mad Solar", which he performed a cappella.
During late 2013, Kid Cudi toured in support of Indicud on The Cud Life Tour 2013. The tour was announced on July 15, with tickets going on sale the following day. Supporting acts on the tour include Big Sean, Tyler, the Creator and Logic. The tour took place in the United States beginning on August 22 and ran through October 18, 2013.
Singles On August 12, 2012, Kid Cudi released the lead single from Indicud, a song titled "Just What I Am", featuring his longtime collaborator and friend, rapper King Chip. On October 2, 2012, "Just What I Am", was released to iTunes as the first single from the album. The single's music video, which marked Cudi's directorial debut, was released November 6, 2012, via Kid Cudi's Vevo. The song has since peaked at number 74 on the US Billboard Hot 100.