You can download the song RIGHT HERE

In celebration of the track, HHU has partnered up with Converse to do a great giveaway: We are giving away a black pair of Chuck Taylor’s in your size, a limited edition “All Summer” 7 inch record and a signed “All Summer” CD by Cudi, Rostam Batmanglij and Bethany Cosentino. You gotta love free stuff!

Be the SIXTEENTH (16) person to email me with your full name, full address and sneaker size and all three items are yours!!!!!!!!!!! If, for whatever reason, the 16th person doesn’t include all the info, I’ll move on to the next person who does. These giveaways move fast, so get your emails in asap! ONE ENTRY ONLY – IF YOU SUBMIT YOUR EMAIL MORE THAN ONCE, ALL OF YOUR EMAILS WILL BE DELETED.

Submit info to hhucontest@gmail.com

This is off of YMHD’s Limelight Exclusives – a mixtape series where no one really knows how they’re getting all of this unauthorized leaks. Regardless, wanted to single out this Cudi song for the fans. First name Scott. Last name Mescudi.

Kid Cudi – Do You Get It [Tags]

What happened to the Almighty GloryUS project???

Kid Cudi hit the stage the other night in Hollywood and performed a few new tracks for the audience.  Above is a new one called “Ghost.” Sound is kind of distorted but the song just sounds horrible to me. I’m sure the studio version is better. Produced by Emile.

Second track, below, sounds a lot better. It’s called “Trapped in My Mind” and is produced by Dot da Genius, who produced his original hit, “Day N Nite.”

Thanks to DNC for the vids and info.

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN: New York City hip-hop is no longer dominated by the mixtape artist / major label dichotomy. Flourishing in that space between the artist selling tapes out of his trunk and the international corporate superstar are rising multi-hyphenate artists like Brooklyn native DotDaGenius.

A classically trained pianist and obsessive beat-maker with a thirst for new sounds, Dot personifies the industry-wide shift away from the traditional label model. While most well known for his imaginative production on Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘N’ Nite,” to confine Dot to a label such as ‘producer’ would be to severely undermine his impact.

Ranging from television scoring on hit series such as HBO’s Entourage or MTV programming, to the creation of his own label and production company, HeadBanga Muzik, Dot has been able to take advantage of these recent changes. “I feel like the business model is changing in the music industry period,” Dot stated in a recent interview at The Brewery Studio in Williamsburg. “A lot of people won’t really need to go through a major label to do certain things anymore. People can do it by themselves, maybe not on a level that a major label can, but eventually, it’s going to get to that level.”

Click below to read the rest:

When an artist walks into The Brewery — the full-service studio Dot owns with engineer/producer Andrew Krivonos, and HeadBanga HQ — the environment is collaborative and consistent as far as production talent and support. The goal is to create the most effective environment in which artists will thrive.

Dot’s partnership with Kid Cudi serves as the consummate example of how a consistent relationship helps breed success. Instead of sending out demo tracks to low-level A&Rs and trying to hustle together some local momentum, Dot and Cudi worked together in Dot’s home studio while he attended NYU Polytechnic.

Rather than distribute the track to some label (whereat an executive might assign producers to craft more ‘hit’ tracks) in hopes of eventually receiving a release date for physical album sales, Dot and Headbanga provide a more updated approach. In the case of Cudi and “Day ‘N’ Nite,” after two years spent perfecting the track, the two worked together to share their vision online, through Myspace and other social media outlets, allowing the music to speak for itself.

“The internet plays a huge part,” Dot allows. “Literally, without anybody behind us pushing the music, we were putting songs up on Myspace and getting immediate feedback from people all over the world.”

It’s this multi-dimensional approach that Dot sees as the future of the industry: “I feel like, creatively everybody has their direction, and once a couple people create a synergy together where they are in sync creatively, that’s where the best music is made.”

INTER-NETWORKING & TALENT SCOUTING

With the rise of the internet age, artists and producers like Dot, Cudi, Freddie Gibbs, and Drake have been able to utilize online resources to their advantage, pushing their newest work on Myspace and genre-specific blogs.

As Dot explains: “It’s going to get to that point where just through the internet and networking online, you can set up opportunities to tour and link up with other established artists.”

As a result of his web networking, Dot has been able to expand his artist and producer rolodex: “I linked up with [producer] Benny Blanco, he reached out over the internet. I linked up with the Clipse in Hawaii. Even with producers, on a day to day basis I get hit up by producers that, say, ‘Oh you inspired my music, can you check me out?’”

From a business standpoint, this attention to personal relationships is a stark contrast from the model that some major labels have followed, where producers are often chosen for efficiency or name-recognition over quality. Rather than purchase contracts of established artists with an already developed sound, HeadBanga is looking to the greater community for young, raw talent.

Between local showcases and quality internet mixtape artists, Dot and his crew are constantly on the lookout for potential: “I have an A&R team, we’re fully stacked like most labels have, but we’re young. We’re looking for whatever we like, not so much the industry standard.”

GENIUS LOVES COMPANY: HEADBANGA & BLURRING GENRES AND PRODUCTION STYLES

Dot sees HeadBanga’s defining characteristic in its versatility, from both a sonic and business standpoint — serving as more than just a production studio or hip-hop record label. Stocked with photographers, directors, and a public relations team, HeadBanga is essentially able to handle any need relative to entertainment, beyond music production and scoring.

“We are also a media company: we do film, photography, event marketing and promotions,” he points out. “It just doesn’t stop at the music; we’re definitely trying to take over most aspects regarding the entertainment industry. I feel like we need that in order to be the entity that stands out from everybody else.”

Dot also brings this versatility to his sound production, exhibited in the minimal-electro production on “Day ‘N’ Nite.”

Asked about this sound, Dot relays: “If you listen to Cudi’s album, it’s definitely not like most hip-hop albums; I think it’s more musical. Being classically trained, and having the knowledge of theory and music contributes to it. The other producers that we work with all have their different levels of musical knowledge that blend, and there’s no area [of music] that’s not covered.”

Arranging music that lends itself to other genres has quickly become the trend in hip-hop, with rappers like Kid Cudi and Kanye West, as well as hybrid DJs like A-Trak blurring the lines between hip-hop and other genres, especially electronic music. Dot’s ability to produce an eclectic sound can be equally attributed to his classical training as well as the use of feedback mechanisms.

As evidenced by his approach with Cudi, the expanding social media market is an extremely useful tool in reaching out to large, young audiences, many of whom are willing critics: “People from Paris, people from Germany just responding [on Myspace] saying, ‘I really like your song, is there anywhere I can download it?’ That immediately told us that were on to something.”

Due in large part to his willingness to look to the internet for commentary and inspiration, Dot developed “Day ‘N’ Nite” into a track that can be appreciated by fans of all types of music, from all over the world. The amount of international remixes of “Day ‘N’ Nite”, spanning a number of genres, is ultimately what propelled it to its chart-topping position. This merging of genres has resulted in an influx of new sounds, with hip-hop at the forefront of the experimentation.

As a result, the other members of the Headbanga staff also infuse myriad styles into their work, making it difficult to define a distinctive feature in their sound, other than simply its quality.

“I pride myself and my team on being able to tackle all genres, not just hip-hop,” Dot shares. “Most people would just expect me to come out with a hip-hop artist or an R&B artist, but honestly if I come across a good alternative group or rock group, I‘m with it, because I appreciate all that music and it’s definitely something I want to tackle more of.”

Dot’s business partner, Brewery co-owner Andrew Krivonos, voiced a similar sentiment about their ability to diversify the sound of their work, which ranges from rappers like JoJo Pelligrino and Raekwon, to pop singer/songwriter Brian Hong and Latin band Junior Rivera: “We are all kind of young dudes who are very much in it, so we are able to service a broad range of needs. That’s why I think we get so much variety in our clientele.” This unique ability to cloud the lines between genres has been a huge factor in both the Headbanga group and Dot’s personal success.

With his current work on the upcoming Kid Cudi sophomore album, Man on the Moon: The Legend of Mr. Rager (tentatively due out October 26), Dot has yet again found a way to work with an artist on developing a new sound, rather than settling for the status quo:

“The album is different from Man on the Moon, the music is really going to speak for itself. I feel like Cudi has really stepped it up himself; as an MC, he’s always working, always trying to make something better. When you have somebody who doesn’t settle for ‘let’s just rock with this,’ it’s better for the music. The process is tedious, sometimes it can get a little hectic, but it’s always rewarding when the music comes out, and the music is sounding great.”

From his first hit with “Day ‘N’ Nite” to his scoring for television and advertising to the upcoming Kid Cudi follow-up release, we can continue to look forward to the one constant in Dot’s work: unique and quality sound production.

“I pride myself in trying to diversify,” he explains. “If I have a beat CD with ten tracks, I want somebody to listen to it and think all ten tracks came from somebody different, but with the same quality. I think with the influences of New York and the other genres of music, I’m just trying to implement it and make it my own.”

~Alex Edelstein

Via

*

After months of Kid Cudi performing this acapella and with the audio, more recently, here is the full track for everyone to enjoy.

Look for Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon II to be in the alternative section if it ever drops, because pretty much everything scheduled for the album is this type of melodic/singing music (RevOfEv, Erase Me, Mr. Rager]. It’s cool for what it is, but obviously expect the unexpected with Mr. Mescudi. Thanks to TS.

Kid Cudi – Mr. Rager [Full Version]

**NEW LINK**

Kid Cudi ft. Kanye West – Wylin’ Cuz I’m Young

Updated with NO TAGS Version

This is a pretty weird video from the guys of RATATAT, but I guess that’s their style as they create their infamous instrumental tracks. Look for RATATAT to appear on Kid Cudi’s upcoming album, Man on the Moon II.

Kid Cudi – Mojo So Dope

[NO TAGS, FULL VERSION]

While Chip has gained notoriety by touring under the wing of Kid Cudi, he has recently embarked on his solo tour to establish himself as a solo artist – and not just Kid Cudi’s sidekick. Did one of the toughest cities in the country embrace the kid? Click below to check out my overall recap and some great pics:

I headed over to Santos at about 9:30 and was pleasantly surprised when I walked in the venue and I could hardly move toward the stage. PACKED – wall to wall (as you can see in the pic above). An eclectic crowd came out to see up and comer Nero & Chip tha Ripper perform on stage with Terry Urban, Double O (Kidz in the Hall), and Dot da Genius on the DJ side of things.

Chip took to the stage and rocked some of his biggest cuts off of his mixtapes, as well as some great features he’s done. Little did the crowd know who would show up to come support his comrade…….

YUP! Kid Cudi rolled through to surprise the crowd and, obviously, the crowd responded with a roar. What I liked about Cudi is that he didn’t show up and steal the show – he played his position as a Chip tha Ripper supporter, helping to hype up the crowd and get involved with the music.

In fact, most of the time, Cudi could be seen on the side of the stage just dancing along and providing his usual comic relief.

Almighty GloryUS!

Touch the Sky

Cudi in the Zone!

All in all, I just want to say congrats to Chip and the SLAB UP fam for killing it on Friday night. Nah, it wasn’t Madison Square Garden, but it was a huge victory for that camp, who have been grinding it out for years to get to this point. Only place they can go is up.

Shout to Kev, Chip, Duke, Nero, Modi, Dex, and everyone who came out to the show.

I read about this last night on twitter (I wasn’t at my computer all night, just on my phone) and was interested in seeing what happened this time around. Apparently the kid walked on stage and tried to hackey sack, for whatever reason, and then moved toward Cudi aggressively. Youtube user DumDum233 captured it all pretty well.

With all that said, Cudi should never try and fight back or lay his hands on anyone. People tend to maneuver their way in to famous peoples’ pockets through suing them for the stupidest reasons….

Click below for two more great videos of Cudi freaking out on the kid:

When it was first announced it seemed too good to be true, but Kid Cudi is the first artist to pull out of the proposed G.O.O.D. Music day of September 14th. September 28th is the new date for Cudi’s Man On The Moon 2: The Legend Of Mr. Rager. As of now, Kanye West, Consequence and Big Sean are holding tight to September 14th, but if things change we’ll keep you posted.

- C.A.

Click the link to read my Kid Cudi recap, who I saw at the show and for some great pictures:

I didn’t even realize it at first, but each artist was to give their own set before they came together at the end to perform the ‘All Summer’ track. I thought it was, essentially, going to be just a Converse event with them just performing the one song. Great surprise for me.

With that said, Best Coast opened up the show, probably filling up the appetite of the female & hipster portion of the crowd. Just not for me.

Soon thereafter, the Moon Man came on to the stage to rock it, with Heineken in hand. This is actually one of the first times I’ve caught Cudi in a long time and it was nice to see him rock a small venue out in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Even though it was a quick set, he performed a good number of tracks – from “Pursuit of Happiness” to “Cudi Zone” ……..

…to his newest tracks off of Man on the Moon II – “REVOFEV,” “Erase Me,” and “Mr. Rager.”

Cudi on some criticism for his “Erase Me” track and people not understanding: “Because most of the people that talk shit couldn’t make a song if their life depended on it. I know that my real fans fuck with me when I do different shit.”

Like I said up top, Cudi, the young lady of Best Coast and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmangli all came together in the end to perform “All Summer.” When I first heard of the collabo, it seemed a bit…interesting…but it actually sounds very cohesive when performed live.

All in all, another quality event that was actually well handled by Converse and the staff of the venue (you don’t exactly get that with a lot of events). Pleased to see Cudi still in his zone and doing his own music with no regrets, even though I am one of those critics of “Erase Me.”

For some video of the show, click HERE.

Shout to everyone I saw out that. Joe la Puma, Nick, Diego, etc.

Essentially, this song was built for radio and the ever-so-important crossover appeal. The appeal that actually SELLS records. Built for it, I say. I’m pretty indifferent about it, but I remember reading someone on twitter saying this sounds like a Lil Wayne “Rebirth” reference record. And I agree.

Kid Cudi ft. Kanye West – Erase Me (CDQ)