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13 tracks · 41 min
About
When Kid Cudi spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in 2022, Cudi was contemplating closing the door on music entirely. “The Kid Cudi stuff, I think I want to put it on the back burner and chill out with that,” he said. “I think I want to be done with it.” Fifteen years deep into his uncompromising career, he’d scored a handful of megahits, pioneered the melody-driven style that’s defined the past 15 years of hip-hop and secured his spot among the blog era’s Mount Rushmore. Then he got bored. Three years later, Cudi’s re-inspired and happier than ever, following up 2024’s pair of trap-inspired albums—INSANO and INSANO (NITRO MEGA)—with a record he bills as his first-ever pop album. “I just felt like I needed to drastically make a creative leap in my career,” he tells Lowe in 2025. “I mean, people know that I’m a risk-taker, and I felt like the last five years, I hadn’t really been pushing myself.” Approaching his 11th solo album, Free, he asked himself a question: “What does the world not have right now that I can provide?” The answer, it turns out, was hope. The Cleveland native has never shied away from vulnerability, candidly sharing his struggles with depression over the years. …