Kid Cudi

There’s a lot of trash to be talked about mainstream hip-hop these days. Like, a lot. I know, because I’m usually doing it when I’m not trashing current joke-core bands or rescinding statements of trash talk aimed at bands who went from joke to legit out of nowhere. Luckily, Kid Cudi might be the bright shining beacon of hope for mainstream hip-hop. Indie hip-hop has more than its share of heroes who are championing their genre, but Cudi might be the only person who has recorded a track with Snoop Dogg that I actually like, and the only mainstream hip-hopper to guest on a non-hip-hop track that was actually worthwhile, as his Dan Black collabo displayed. On further investigation, his solo material has proven to be one of the best things hip-hop has offered to the music world in a long time, bringing the same real talk ethic of the indie MCs to the big stages and bigger audiences. So if he can bring mainstream hip-hop back from a status of unsavable…what do I have to do to get him to work on punk rock? - Brien Overly