A Brief Intermission: Kid Cudi & Chip Tha Ripper at Roseland Ballroom, Friday 4/22

Pictures taken from datnewcudi.com. Click the link to check out some more pictures as well as some videos from the event.

Let me start by refuting my earlier Cudi trashing. Scott Mescudi has significantly chilled out his rock-star lifestyle (he’s apparently completely off the ganj) and has a newfound work ethic as a result. In the past, Cudi was often tardy to the stage, too drunk to perform and a generally disrespectful musician towards his fans. Last night, none of this was the case as he was energetic, on point and played an excellent set list. I will say that his recent tree-free lifestyle makes performing songs like “Marijuana” and “Ashin’ Kusher” a tad awkward but I’ll take the good performance over song authenticity.

Last night, we ended up running a little bit late to the venue(drinking tends to have that affect) and only caught the second half of Chip Tha Ripper’s set. I was initially disappointed that we were missing him but quickly forgot as Chip strutted about the stage rapping about being “the coldest”, chicks and of course, weed. I was grabbing my first beer from the bar when Chip asked the crowd “How ya’ll feel about Nate Dogg?” He commanded his DJ to “kick that shit”, the beat from “The Next Episode” came on and I knew it was going to be a good night. He followed that with more feel good tunes like “Plural”, “Feel Good” and “U.A.F. (Ugly as Fuck)” and did his job of getting the crowd ready to see Cudi. I would have liked to see what he did earlier in his set and would have loved to hear a verse from “Fat Raps” or “Check Please” but he had a job to do and he did it well.

In between sets we got some drinks and began to notice just how young the crowd around us was. As we stood there, we began to look around and realized we were comfortably the oldest people at the show, except for the parents that accompanied their kids as chaperones, of course. Soon after, I was asked to buy an underager a drink and could only scream “NOOOOOOOO” in her face a la Ryan Reynolds in Van Wilder. Next, I witnessed a young man no more than 16 puking his guts out in a trash can and being escorted by security and after another request to buy a high schooler a beer I was just about ready to say “fuck it” and leave. Kid Cudi was soon on stage and all of the in between set awkwardness was alleviated. I took up a spot towards the back of the floor with a good view of the stage and got ready for a bumbling, stumbling, ranting performance. But as I stated before Cudi was on fire and he ripped the stage apart. His stage presence was excellent, his delivery was emotional and he worked the crowd like a pro. It was long and fun-filled set including, an appearance of his collaboration with David Guetta, “Memories” which was immediately followed by the Crookers remix of “Day ‘N Nite”. Those two tracks really got the crowd jumping but he also threw in some songs for the die hards. He brought Chip Tha Ripper back out to do their song “All Talk” which goes over “Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD Soundsystem and he also brought back “Man on the Moon” from his mixtape “A Kid Named Cudi” (my personal favorite in the Cudi catalog).

Even with the excellent sets from Cudi and Chip Tha Ripper, I will not be attending anymore all ages shows at the Roseland Ballroom. What are these parents thinking sending their kids to a show where the man performing just released an album entitled “The Legend of Mr. Rager”? I started attending shows at the age of 14 (much to my chagrin, my dad had to be in attendance) but I was seeing pop-punk bands like Midtown and Brand New, who sang about break-ups and girls. My parents were not sending me to a hip-hop show where the artist’s songs celebrate the use of weed, cocaine and having to get dragged out the club. I might sound like an old fart here, but there’s a time and place for everything and 14 year olds puking at a Kid Cudi show is just excessive. I hope those parents had to endure a significant amount of stress and discomfort as a result of this ordeal. Parents sort out your fucking kids and quit sending them to events for adults.