INSANO (NITRO MEGA) by Kid Cudi | Album Review

Scott Mescudi drops the companion album to the previously released INSANO

Listen to INSANO (NITRO OMEGA): Apple Music | Spotify

Back in January, Kid Cudi dropped his ninth studio album INSANO. The project was quite honestly, a forgettable album that left me feeling severely disappointed. Before its release, Scott was already hyping up the inevitable release of a deluxe edition/sequel album hinting that there would be just as many songs as the vanilla INSANO.

I was very hesitant, especially considering how meh INSANO was, that Cudi was going to go 2 for 2 with another mediocre album. Thankfully, for the most part, INSANO (NITRO MEGA) is a step above its predecessor. It’s not as reliant on generic trap beats and sees Cudi back in a realm of production that suits him. However, just like the original INSANO, it too features lackluster songwriting and a bloated tracklist full of filler.

Let’s get the good out of the way first. The production of NITRO MEGA is miles better than what INSANO offered. 2 tracks in and I was genuinely stunned by how much better the beats sounded. For a companion album the production here is more thoughtful and natural for Cudi in comparison to the previous album. Songs like the acoustic-tinged “ALL MY LIFE” or the Depeche Mode samples of “WIN OR LOSE” clear pretty much anything that was on INSANO. The album still offers up some bangers such as “EVERYBODY LIKE” with its grimy bass line and boom-bap drums, or the hypnotic “MOON MAN SHIT” whose grungy chorus and pulsating bass make it a concert-ready anthem.

The overall sonics of NITRO MEGA though are slower and vibey, very much in line with Cudi’s older works, and will surely please longtime fans. The inclusion of 2 older/unreleased Cudi tracks helps drive this point a little further as well. DOSE OF DOPENESS (2007)” and “ROCKET (2011)” harken back to his A Kid Named Cudi/WZRD days, serving as a reminder of how far he’s come especially from a production standpoint.

Feature-wise, NITRO MEGA includes the likes of Lil Yachty, whose singing elevates the dreamy “ROUND N ROUND”. Pusha T comes through on the aforementioned EVERYBODY LIKE and perfectly fits with the song’s dark aesthetic. Layzie Bone and Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony pull up on the melodic “I JUST WANNA GET” and offer up some enchanting bars. Frequent collaborator Chip tha Ripper shows up throughout the album, pairing nicely with Cudi with his gruff delivery.

On the negative side of things, NITRO MEGA unfortunately suffers from the same problems INSANO had, albeit not nearly as badly. Firstly the songwriting here is again, just plain lazy. The bars on here are not impactful at all and leave much to be desired, falling into the same territory as INSANO. Even a lot of the vocal performances and song structures are quite jarring, such as the questionable “WILLIS”.

Lastly the tracklist is bloated with so much filler that should have been left in the cutting room floor. For every high moment like “DIAMONDS LIGHTS FAST CARS”, you’re met with several boring lulls to skip through until the next decent track comes up. This could have easily been a 6 or 7 song EP with just the bangers alone and I would have been fine with that.

Overall INSANO (NITRO MEGA), while more tolerable than January’s INSANO, is still more or less the same jank that Cudi offered us a month ago. Granted, there are more songs on here that are much more listenable, and the vibe is in line with that traditional Cudi sound. It still suffers from the same detriments that plagued its predecessor.

I’m giving INSANO (NITRO MEGA) a 5.5/6 out of 10. It just barely beats the vanilla INSANO by a point and a half, and quite frankly is the better album out of the two, however that isn’t really saying much.

Final Rating: 5.5/6 out of 10.

Favourite Tracks: WIN OR LOSE, EVERYBODY LIKE, ROCKET (2011), MOON MAN SHIT