After the releases of Man on The Moon I and II in 2009 and 2010, most Kid Cudi fans expected the third installment of the Man on The Moon saga to be near. What they didn’t expect was what Cudi came out with on Feb. 28.

Cudi released a new album under the name WZRD with producer and friend Dot Da Genius. According to Cudi, the album is a new rock project with no rap, just singing. He also said that WZRD would not contain any profanity throughout the entire album because he wants it to be universal for everyone.

Since WZRD was definitely a different approach for Cudi, it was a hit-or-miss situation with fans. In this case, it was a miss for Cudi. It might be a passion of his to produce rock music, but he needs to stick with what he’s known for and keep to his strong suits.

As a rock fan, I would not put this on my rock playlist, simply because it doesn’t capture the sound he’s attempting to make. There’s definitely a guitar present, but it’s more synth-heavy as you can hear in the fourth track “Love Hard”.

Another thing that crossed my mind is how or if WZRD would tour with this album. With Man on The Moon III coming out within the next year, does Cudi have the time to tour behind this album or does he even want to?

With all the hype from Cudi’s first two albums and his third solo album being talked about, Cudi was able to produce this  album without losing a significant amount of fans from his giant fan base.

I think that this album is a nice try for Cudi, but if he wants to be more rock-oriented, he needs to use less effects and synthesizers and more shredding on the guitar. You can definitely tell that he has the potential to play the guitar well but it seems like he’s being cautious.

WZRD almost seems as if it was rushed or even a little lazy in some of the tracks, such as “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” which was a traditional folk song made popular by Nirvana in their notable live album Unplugged. WZRD is the debut album for the duo, and it puzzled me as to why they would put a cover on their first album.

The laziness comes into play when you listen to this song before Nirvana’s version because they sound exactly the same. A cover is supposed to be genuine and original, yet this track sounds like they were merely trying to imitate Nirvana.

Kid Cudi’s rock career is a work in progress and an overall decent first attempt, but it’s just not there yet. He should just release the third piece to the Man on The Moon series and continue to rap. The album deserves 2.5 stars for an interesting attempt and the discovery of some guitarist potential.