The Weekly Coos

It’s hard being a fan of an artist and then witnessing what could be a promising career dwindle into niche inconsistencies. It’s been so over the past decade as Kid Cudi has seemed to push boundaries and become too ambitious with his work instead of elevating an already exciting sound. Though sometimes he has hit with some releases, like Satellite Flight and Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin’, it’s through the modest bright spots that the inconsistency was more internal. Unfortunately, his career continues to culminate in more mediocrity and forgetfulness. It was so with his soundtrack album to his Netflix special, Entergalactic back in 2022, and now with the delayed Insano, where, after listening to it a few times, it could have stayed delayed indefinitely as Kid Cudi isn’t really developing new ideas or sounds and is just middling through the vast known and trying to keep interests afloat. That isn’t to say Insano is putrid and lacking at least a few decent tracks—it has some good songs—but as it turns the bend through an album that has more producers than there are winners of The Voice, there isn’t much to lament on save for fleeting moments where the connectivity clicks.

Opening with a DJ Drama intro that evokes sentiments of a Gangsta Grillz tape, it’s evident something I was excited to see a return to the mainstream become more of a gimmick that gets used to hype work that isn’t so good. Like so, “OFTEN, I HAVE THESE DREAMZ” isn’t as loud, more so relatively hazy and drab, making the hype of DJ Drama feel more unwarranted, making much of the music that follows not feel the hype and making listening more of a chore than needed, especially when the content isn’t so gripping, making you slightly yearn for more of a contemplative Kid Cudi that had more to says, as he did so with his two albums and the collaborative Kids See Ghosts album, alongside Kanye West. Many tracks tack on too much ambition and not enough charisma, like opting for more and more autotune like on “MR. COOLA” and “TORTURED,” which retreads familiar choral melodies Cudi is known for. It’s a lot of meandering pieces stitched together that you’d openly tell these tracks to keep bouncin’ away from your ears.

Fortunately, those songs that hit are some diamonds in the rough—the diamonds are when Cudi connects with producers like Bynx and his usual collaborator Dot Da Genius—with songs like “ElectroWaveBaby,” co-produced by Bynx, which taps into more of the synth-pop wave that bolsters Cudi’s singing and making it something to enjoy fully. Adjacently, Cudi knows how to connect with many of the featured artists to deliver some great songs, and these hit significantly when most of the album is already a monotonous wash that’s repetitive. It makes its length a grueling task, further making these fleeting moments of solid music go by the wayside as you try to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. It becomes a composite of this vaster element that falls heavily on the listener because most of these songs aren’t objectively poor via construction and writing, but at the same time, there is rarely anything to say except creating more of a lavish and modern take on that party-vibing styles of his character. Take away much of this, and you’d probably get a tighter, more popping EP or short album, but as much as I harp on how mediocre Insano is, I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight some other good stuff within the album.

Like “ElectroWaveBaby,” there are some great tracks to hit play and replay, like “AT THE PARTY,” “FUNKY WIZARD SMOKE,” “MOST AIN’T DENNIS,” “RAGER BOYZ,” and “TOO DAMN HIGH.” Though most of these contain features, there is something to like when Cudi elevates his craft by finding ways to deliver over particular beats. Another that emboldens these notions is “Blue Sky,” which gives you a lamenting Cudi making use of his amplified singing through autotune that there is something to love without a grating effect ruining it. It’s a shift from hip-hop, mixing some synth-rock to evolve further than what we got leading to it. It becomes a disappointment that it’s one long trek before getting much of the good stuff. One feature that doesn’t hit like others is that of Lil Wayne—with the amount that hit, it’s a disappointment because it succumbs to the abundance of autotune Kid Cudi adds to his rapping, making the track nearly inaudible and Wayne more of an afterthought. It happens when Cudi doesn’t try to get overly creative and retread elements that haven’t worked since the beginning.

Most of what one receives with Insano is Kid Cudi elevating the playing field and forgetting who he once was, and trying to bring more of an ornate and party-like vibe where his no fucks given attitude isn’t the most creative. He’s retreading similar lyrical connections to get that rager sense flowing. Sometimes, it works when Cudi connects with some features or gets a solid production to explore. Additionally, it has a solid five-track run at the end that pieces together elements from past conceptions Cudi has made and delivers them at a tepid level that never gets offensively drab, and more so the last five tracks, which include “Blue Sky” and “HIT THE STREETZ IN MY NIKES,” offering a reminder of what good to great Kid Cudi music sounds like. Unfortunately, Insano was a significant disappointment, and well, I guess Kid Cudi can’t go lower, especially after making Speedin’ Bullet to Heaven.