A quick Google or Bing will tell you that the Great Hangover Tour is co-headlined by hip-hop freshmen Asher Roth and Kid Cudi. A trip to one of the shows will tell you that this tour is all about Cudi, and that's a very good thing. When I caught the tour at the Norva Theater in Norfolk, VA, the crowd swelled in size showed more energy for Kid Cudi’s set. He came after Roth, and when college loving rapper went off stage before his encore, the crowd called for Cudi to come on stage making it clear who they really wanted to see.
Also I missed half of Asher's set because I was running late to the show. Considering all this, I'll focus on Cudi's performance in this review.
The lonely stoner's set list included just five songs that were actually off his first album, and that makes sense since it doesn't drop until this September. Kid Cudi's success story is a bit different from most up and coming rappers, and needs some explanation.
His hit single, "Day 'n' Nite," was first written in ‘06 before the world knew Scott Mescudi as Kid Cudi. Its popularity grew and it soon became the single for his first and only mix tape, A Kid Named Cudi, in mid '08. Unlike most hip-hop singles, it only continued to grow in popularity until it peaked just a few months ago in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The song then became the first single for his album Man on the Moon: The End of the Day. With Cudi’s signature singsong flow and unique beats, A Kid Named Cudi delivered music that he said was meant to appeal to people who loved all kinds of music, not just hip-hop. Unsurprisingly he was soon signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label. For those of you unfamiliar with hip-hop scene, most new rappers develop their style over the course of multiple mix tapes (which is essentially just a free, somewhat informal album a rapper will release to gain publicity) before establishing themselves and perhaps signing a good record deal. For example, fellow rising star Drake released five mix tapes before being signed by Lil Wayne's Young Money label. Cudi achieved similar success in late '08 without ever having a show on The N (see Drake’s run on the show Degrassi) and just one mix tape. Cudi also worked closely with the Louis Vuitton Don on four songs on 808's and Heartbreak, and lent his singing voice to the hook of "Welcome to Heartbreak."
The songs from A Kid Named Cudi that drove Cudi's popularity were the highlights of the show. A crowd that was seemingly made exclusively of die hard Cudder fans sang and moved to beats of songs like "Down and Out," "Cudi Spazzin'," and "Embrace the Martian." The crowd even knew the unreleased leaks from his upcoming album, "Mr. Solo Dolo," and "Sky Might Fall." The only song that was performed without crowd assistance was the completely unreleased "Heart Of A Lion," which will be the third single for the album.
The set list left little to be desired, and Cudi's performance was flawless. He smiled and seemed genuinely happy as he danced across the stage, and the audience mirrored his mood or maybe it was vice versa. His performance was enhanced by a stage-wide screen of LED's that were operated by the same technician who did the lights for Kanye West's extravagant Glow in the Dark Tour. By the end of the show he had the knowledgeable crowd completely under his control as everyone in the packed Norva Theater yelled in approval at the start of seemingly every song and danced throughout the performance, making the concert hall feel and smell more like a packed frat party dance floor.
So when Cudi performed the second single off of his upcoming album, the Lady Gaga cover\parody "Make Her Say (Poke Her Face)," it made sense that the crowd completely lost its collective shit (that's really the only way to describe it) when Kanye himself came out to perform his verse from the song. His witty lines were barely audible over excited yells of the audience, and for the first time in the set, Cudi didn't hold the audience's complete attention.
Cudi then somehow managed to top the excitement from Mr. West’s surprise appearance with an outstanding rendition of "Day 'n' Nite." The song moved from an a capella first verse, to a normal but still enthusiastic second verse, before launching into the faster paced, more electronic Crookers Remix of the song.
When Cudi went off before the encore, the crowd took time to catch its breath before cheers for both Kanye and Cudi broke out. No one was disappointed as the G.O.O.D. Music duo performed "Welcome to Heartbreak" before Cudi capped the night by himself with one more mix tape track, "Man on the Moon."
As you finish reading this review, you should know that I am a huge Kid Cudi fan. Since I first listened to A Kid Named Cudi last fall, I have been recommending his mix tape to anyone with a slight taste in hip-hop. As purely a Kid Cudi fan, it was a highly satisfying experience to see him in person and have a chance to be surrounded by other fans of the once obscure rapper. As someone who has seen more rap shows than an average white college kid, it was a pleasure to see such a well put together performance in a fairly intimate setting. The quality of the show combined with Kanye West's surprise appearance at the end of the show made this one the best and most memorable concerts I have ever attended, and helped cement my opinion that Kid Cudi is the best up and coming hip-hop artist.
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