Man on the Moon III: The Chosen
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen is the seventh studio album by American musician Kid Cudi, released on December 11, 2020 by Wicked Awesome Records and Republic Records. It is the final installment of Cudi's Man on the Moon trilogy of albums.
The 18-track album was produced mainly by Cudi himself and Dot da Genius, along with Plain Pat, Emile Haynie and Mike Dean, all of whom contributed to the previous two Man on the Moon albums. Guest vocals on the album are contributed by Phoebe Bridgers, Pop Smoke, Skepta and Trippie Redd.
Thematically, Man on the Moon III is a concept album that finds Cudi in an internal struggle against his evil alter ego, Mr. Rager, in hopes to win back his peace and happiness. As with the previous two installments in the trilogy, the album is divided into separate acts.
Man on the Moon III: The Chosen received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cudi's songwriting and generally favored the latter two acts, though some found it derivative of Cudi's earlier albums. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, earning 144,000 album-equivalent units of which 15,000 were pure sales, marking Cudi's fifth top 10 album in the US.
Background and conception
Kid Cudi released the first edition of his Man on the Moon series in 2009; with the subtitle The End of Day, the album detailed the struggles of Cudi's loneliness in his formative years, as well as dealing with the death of his father at an early age. The album, which included the worldwide hit single "Day 'n' Nite", was divided into five acts and featured narration from Cudi's then-GOOD Music label-mate and fellow American rapper Common. The next year he released the sequel, the follow-up to his critically acclaimed seminal debut; with the subtitle The Legend of Mr. Rager, Cudi took an even darker approach, creating an alter ego by the name of Mr. Rager and chronicling how his initial sudden and unexpected rise to fame drove him to alcohol and drugs.In 2014, Cudi released Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon, which he called a prelude to Man on the Moon III. In 2015, following the release of Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, which had lukewarm reception much to Cudi’s dismay, Cudi took to Twitter to address the response "News Flash: motm3 doesn't exist. Its just a title. It will be nothing like any of my previous work just like all my releases. My first 2 albums were meant to be untopped. I didn't even think Id live to make another record after motm 2... My point is, u cant top timeless. And that was what we aim for everytime."
However, in a 2016 interview with Billboard, Cudi announced Man on the Moon III would never exist: "Guys, you have to realize: I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man. People change their vibe! We can follow the same template and do the five-act split. Sonically, I'm still going to be where I'm at. Honestly, I was ready to live up to the obligation and do Man on the Moon III. I haven't been dicking around. I was planning on doing it after Speedin' Bullet. But the Speedin' Bullet response tore me up. It made me realize what's most important. I'm getting back on the bike again and doing what I do best: me."
In 2016, Cudi reunited with Emile Haynie and Plain Pat, both of whom are former business partners of Cudi and helped formulate his signature sound, to produce Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', which followed the same format as the Man on the Moon projects. The significance in the release is it marks the first time all three had collaborated since Man on the Moon II and the disestablishment of their record label, Dream On. In December 2022, Cudi would later reveal Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin was originally going to be released as Man on the Moon III, but opted not to because he wanted to "be in a better place" when he ultimately released the final installment of his trilogy.
In a December 2020 interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Cudi detailed how he went from working on Entergalactic and The Scotts, to ultimately working on the final installment of his trilogy.
Recording and production
The album features production from Cudi's longtime collaborators Dot da Genius, Emile Haynie, Plain Pat and Mike Dean, all of whom helped shape the sound for the first two installments of the Man on the Moon series. Added to Cudi's team of producers was up-and-coming production duo Take a Daytrip, whose production is featured prominently throughout the album; the duo had previously produced Cudi's first number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, "The Scotts", alongside Dot da Genius.After achieving his first number one single in the US with "The Scotts", Cudi celebrated with the song's producers, Dot da Genius and Take a Daytrip. While celebrating and drinking shots of tequila, they began recording a song ultimately titled "Tequila Shots". Cudi subsequently went on to record two more songs with the producers, namely "Another Day" and "She Knows This", which went on to lay the foundation for Man on the Moon III. Cudi explained to Apple Music that he had been in a good place working on his animated series Entergalactic and on The Scotts, but he kept coming up with cuts that didn't fit either of those projects. After those three songs, he was saying to himself, "Whoa, this shit really feels like a Man on the Moon. It sounds like you pick right back up where we left off 10 years ago."
In an interview for Apple Music, Cudi explained that he was encouraged by his protégé, Houston-based rapper Travis Scott to be more lyrical and made a concerted effort to showcase his skill set as a rapper on this album, since he feels he is overlooked in that aspect of his artistry. In a January 2021 interview with Complex, Dot da Genius spoke on the creation of several tracks on the album: 'Solo Dolo III' was a beat me and Plain Pat did initially during the Entergalactic sessions that Cudi never recorded to. But he was inspired to during the Man on the Moon III sessions."
When speaking on the song "Show Out", his collaboration with the posthumous Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke and London-based rapper Skepta, Cudi said "It was powerful because like I talked to Steven Victor about this and he said, when first recorded this song, he had thought of me on it. Steven had thought of me on it. The reason why I kind of got this record, Dot da Genius and Plain Pat had worked with Pop, like before he blew up at the Brewery in New York, at Dot's studio. And they had this record, they just never did anything with it. It was just something that Dot had on tuck, you know?" Cudi went on to reveal that once Dot da Genius played him the record, he was compelled by it: "And I was chilling with them one day because Dot's working on our album and he was like, 'Yo, I got this record. I'm going to play it for you. Let me know what you think'. He plays this shit. And I'm like, 'I need this. Like I need this, man'. I was like, 'Nobody's ever heard me on anything like this. Skepta sounds amazing. Pop Smoke sounds amazing. Like this would be so unexpected. I think I can be on this and I could hold it down and like do my thing'. And this is also another way I can, you know, showcase these bars." Dot da Genius later revealed the song was originally intended for his own album.
Cudi also revealed for this album, he decided to incorporate ad-libs, but was hesitant to do it in the traditional way. "I decided to sprinkle in some ad-libs, something I've never really done before," he explains. "I was able to do it in my own little way, so it remains authentic and doesn't sound like I'm doing ad-libs like everybody else." In 2021, Cudi appeared on American TV talk show The Shop, where he spoke on his writing and recording process. Cudi mentioned for his early albums he would sit down and write entire verses. However, while working on Man on the Moon III, he adopted Kanye West's writing process. Instead of writing to a beat, he records a reference track for himself, where he freestyles and hums his way through the beat to get a melody, and fills in the lyrics as they come to him.