Indicud

Indicud is the upcoming third studio album by American hip hop recording artist Kid Cudi, set to be released on April 23, 2013 under Wicked Awesome Records and Republic Records. After his crossover into rock music with Dot da Genius, on their 2012 project WZRD, Cudi soon began working on his third solo studio album. The album was initially going to be the third installment to his Man on the Moon series, which he announced when he revealed he would not be releasing the A Man Named Scott mixtape, to focus on his rock project and "MOTM3". Be that as it may, in the summer of 2012 Cudi announced the title of his third studio album when he tweeted: "My new album is entitled indicud, it will be my version of The Chronic 2001, some songs i'll produce, others i'll feat &/or play songwriter". On June 8, 2012, Cudi announced Indicud, would be a double-disc album, until tweeting on October 28, 2012 that "Indicud will not be a double disc but will contain a maximum of 17 brand new jams." Kid Cudi also tweeted: "The overall tone of indicud is positive and confident," adding: "The energy of Indicud is its own new thing. New format with some of my favorite musical tricks here and there. The album moves dope".
Before the album's release, in December 2012, Cudi dedicated Indicud to the late Ben Breedlove and all his fans that passed away, continuing: "My journey shall continue in your honor. Never forgotten." The album is upbeat and optimistic, very much unlike his previous studio album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010), which can be considered darkly erratic, to say the least. The surprisingly positive vibe stems from Cudi's desire to always change and reinvent:
"I always try to push myself to the next level with everything I do. Since I've been in the business, critics have known that about me. When I started working on Indicud, I just wanted to bring more energy into my sound. Most of my old music was driven towards relaxed, chilled out smoke music. And that was my goal first coming in. Now it’s like, 'What’s a side of me that people haven’t seen?' The only time people have seen me on up-tempos is on remixes or some shit. So I just wanted to take the energy to the next level. That ultimately inspired the subject matter. It was a chain reaction. With the up-tempos came more positive lyrics. It just brightened up the whole shit."
After the album cover's unveiling, Cudi took to Twitter to explain his decision for the artwork: "The album art represents me. A ball of flames in a rose gold frame.