Fifteen years into his career, Kid Cudi is still trying to push his art further. The rapper crash-landed into pop culture with his 2008 single “Day ‘N’ Nite.” That song’s fusion of spacey beats and introspective lyrics (which spearheaded the rest of his 2009 debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day) had a great influence on the following decade. It’s hard to imagine today’s era of SoundCloud rappers and the ascendancy of emo hip-hop without the trail Cudi laid out.
Cudi’s latest venture is unlike anything he’s done before. Today (Sept. 30), Entergalactic is released as his eighth studio album, but it’s more than that. You might call it a “visual album,” but rather than every track arriving with its own music video, the songs are intertwined with an animated Netflix special, also called Entergalactic.
Kid Cudi texted Joe Burrow to let him know a song on his new album was named after him. Burrow smiled pretty big when telling us that.
— Marisa Contipelli (@BengalsMarisa) September 27, 2022
The Entergalactic LP spans 15 tracks, opening with an “Entergalactic Theme.” Ty Dolla $ign features on “Willing to Trust,” which Cudi debuted last week, followed by 2 Chainz on “Can’t Wait.” Ty Dolla $ign also makes a second appearance on “Can’t Shake Her,” while Don Toliver assists in rounding out the album with a guest appearance on “Somewhere to Fly.” On Entergalactic’s final bonus single, Toliver, Steve Aoki and Dot Da Genius team up for “Burrow.”
“Entergalactic is everything I’ve always wanted to do, create a long-form visual companion to an album,” Cudi described in a statement. “It all started with the music which helped bring this storyline and these characters to life.” This is a huge deal for the Cleveland star and deserves all of the praise it can get. Make sure you tune in to Entergalactic on Netflix now and press play on the LP at your earliest convenience.