Kid Cudi arrived on the scene just as I began to approach a crossroads in my life. I wasn’t quite sure why but at the time I couldn’t be more excited about A Kid Named Cudi. My ex and I would sit up late in the middle of the week and debate whether or not he had staying power; market appeal. The following year what I perceived to be sadness laced all through Man on The Moon was something like the liquor I drowned my sorrows in. I remember very clearly playing it as I packed my suitcase the night before a departing flight from Seattle. I was heading back to Cali to clean up the time bomb of a six year relationship that exploded all up in my face just a few days prior. While I clearly find Scot Mescudi talented and without a doubt in his own lane, I was actually contemplating not going to the June 22^nd date of his Cud Life Tour with obvious reason. Well maybe it’s not so obvious so I’ll just spell it out; Cudi has a way of projecting his state of mind through his music. He sound tracked the final years of my very long term relationship and quite frankly I became a fan-fan while I was drunk on heartbreak. I wasn’t sure if backsliding was good for my health. Turns out it was exactly what I needed.

I have to be honest. For the first several hours I wasn’t sure if I was at the right Nokia Theatre (and when did they start selling popcorn and water at hip hop concerts Angel Stadium style). The demographic ranged from last summer before high school to soccer mom chaperon and all in between. I could tell because of almost none of the heal wearers actually knew how to walk in them and far too many middle aged – at least – people looked kind of like me, asking themselves if they actually belonged there. Long story not so short, I was shocked at how diverse his audience was. And maybe I shouldn’t have been, because in all honesty his sound is so eclectic and he is truly such a hipster in the best possible way that it would make less sense if the ticket holders all seemed to be the same type of person. I quickly realized that those hipsters were probably wondering what I was doing out passed bed time on a work night way and soon passed the youngin’s.

What I could not and still have not moved passed was the opening act. Now I could very well be at fault for not having done my due diligence and research prior to the show, but when the lights dimmed for the first time and a big green MONSTER like text displayed the name Chip tha Ripper I was completely lost. While everyone screamed and shot to their feet with excitement and anticipation I remained seated – tempted to Google the dude. Then he hit the mic and not only was I lost, but add to that underwhelmed. You know how people always tell women to dress for their body shape and size? Well the same can – and should – be said for men; especially men who are in the business of entertaining, or trying to. From the smedium shirt and won’t come up over the thigh jeans I actually considered waiting in the car for his set to be over. Not only did I not pay to see all of that, but having paid for the show I thought, how rude to subject me to all of that. From his delivery, “we recorded this last night in the hotel”, to his stage presence, or lack thereof, the almost hour long opening set he did left much to be desired.  Of course once I got home and did that research I should have done prior I could sort of see why the Latina to my right could recite each and every word. That said there was no reason for him to be on stage longer than thirty minutes. But I digress.

As soon as the stage director flipped the lights on I sighed with relief. Almost forty minutes seemed to pass by as the stage was prepared for the Kid named Cudi during which I had an epiphany. I have a thing for musicians. And as sexy as a horn player is (I’m still not sure if it’s the trumpet that makes the man or the other way around) my true weakness it seems is the keyboardist. Do you know how much skill is required to make your fingers do all of that? Mmm. Yeah. Anyway right before I began to have Lauryn Hill in Pomona flashbacks the lights dimmed again and the theatre literally shook with excitement. The very moment he stepped out in his red leather MJ jacket I did a little internal victory dance for wearing flats that night, there was no way I’d be sitting again till it was time to drive home.

“Welcome, welcome you. Hey”

And with that we were off on a journey. Though I had decided to go after all, I still didn’t expect much of a performance. His sound is so melancholy. I couldn’t imagine much energy on the stage but I was quickly corrected of my assumptions. Not only did Cudi rock the stage from start to finish but the audience was so hype that there was no way you could feel otherwise. It was such an experience and in a way that I have not known before. It wasn’t just that we were watching an artist perform live as much as it was that we were moving through the performance with that artist. No lie, there were points during the performance where I came close to tears. One of which was during the short doc playing on the backdrop screen behind him which was basically clips of him getting high and chillin with his homeys, but it was clear that this was a story of progression, evolution and change as a person. As he went into All Talk – a song I’d not heard before – I was shocked to see that Chip tha Ripper was back on stage. Another, more distracting guest artist joined Cudi shortly after to do Maniac, a song I did know; go figure. Cage seriously needs to get that lopsided bowl cut fixed and I could have done without him doing a track alone but whatever.

We all know Kid Cudi is a pseudo rocker of sorts, call him alternative so there was an ode to Jimi Hendrix  with his Hey Joe cover which was quite psychedelic and probably a little longer than necessary but good nonetheless. And at the most unexpected moment, following that cover he went into All of The Lights and the crowd lost it. Straight went nuts. And for a minute – just a short minute – I thought, wow, this should have been his song. My sister and I theorized that perhaps he wrote the song since he in fact does have a daughter and went through what seems like a bad break up…but I’ve yet to find anything to support that theory. Another 4 songs in and he was closing the show sooner than I’d hoped. And what better song to wrap it up with than Pursuit of Happiness; I can’t lie though I was a little bitter he didn’t do Highs N Lows.  It’s always that way for me though, one song missing that would have otherwise made the experience complete – for me.