REVISIT: Every Collaboration with Kanye West and Kid Cudi

Kanye West and Kid Cudi will be dropping a highly anticipated collaborative album called Kids See Ghosts this Friday, so I did some research and pulled 8 tracks from each of their discographies.  Here's what I think of all 8 of them:

1) Welcome to Heartbreak

From: 808s & Heartbreak (2008)

This is the second song from Kanye's melodic project 808s & Heartbreak.  The vocals from Ye and Cudi sound distorted throughout the track.  Kanye does 3 short verses and Cudi does the chorus.  Personally, I'm not a fan of autotuned Kanye and I thought Kid Cudi's chorus sounded okay.  I do like that Ye is showing some emotion as he looks at the downsides to fame which include his peers living happy lives while Ye is rich and single.  The song performs as advertised because Kanye does, in fact, sound heartbroken.

2) Gorgeous

From: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Also Features: Raekwon

This is the second track on Kanye West's MBDTF which includes guitar-laced production.  Once again, Ye's verse is mixed to sound distorted, and I like this better than "Welcome to Heartbreak" because Kanye is rapping instead of using autotune.  Cudi is once again on the hook.  His vocals mesh very well with the guitars and his singing sounds better than most times.  Kanye sounds confident throughout his verse and has a funny line where he calls out South Park's gay fish joke ("Choke a South Park writer with a fishstick").  I'm also a fan of Raekwon's guest verse and I think he flows very well on this track.

3) Guilt Trip

From: Yeezus (2013)

Also Features: Popcaan

This is the eighth track on Kanye's polarizing album Yeezus.  The production on this song sounds amazing, but this was one of the weaker tracks on this album.  Ye's contribution is short since it's just one autotuned, energetic verse.  Popcaan takes up a bulk of the track and his distorted vocals are easily the worst part.  Cudi's contribution is just an interlude where he repeats one line and somehow sounds off-key with pitch correction.

4) Father Stretch My Hands Part 1

From: The Life of Pablo (2016)

This was one of my favorite tracks from TLOP.  The sample sounds amazing and it also includes the best possible use of Metro Boomin's tag.  Cudi's chorus is heavenly and basically carries this song.  I don't usually like it when Kanye uses autotune but it sounds tolerable here.  What really brings this song down is the infamous bleached asshole line.

5 & 6) No Mistakes/Ghost Town

From: ye (2018)

Also Features: Charlie Wilson (No Mistakes), PARTYNEXTDOOR, 070 Shake (Ghost Town)

[No Mistakes] Cudi shares the chorus with Charlie Wilson.  Their vocals mesh very well together but I wish that it was more than just one line.  I thought Kanye's verse was okay, but his production sounded very minimal and dry.

[Ghost Town] This was one of the better tracks on this album, even with its faults.  PARTYNEXTDOOR's intro sounds really nice and soulful but devolves into mumbling halfway through.  Cudi's short chorus is incredibly off-key.  However, Kanye's singing sounds amazing and it's one of the best verses on this project.  I kind of like 070 Shake's outro but it goes on for too long.  Her vocals reminded me of "We Are Young" by fun.  Also, I don't think your hand bleeds when you put it on the stove.  The song sounds rushed, and 070 Shake confirmed that this song was recorded the day this album was supposed to be released.

7) Make Her Say

From: Man On the Moon: The End of Day (2009)

Also Features: Common

I love the production from Kanye, which samples the hit song "Pokerface" by Lady Gaga.  This beat is one of the biggest reasons why this is one of my favorite Kid Cudi songs.  I like that every verse begins the same way.  Kanye West's verse includes some nice wordplay throughout and Common delivers a solid guest verse.

8) Erase Me

From: Man On the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010)

I'm not too crazy about this song or most of Kid Cudi's music after his first album.  Cudi's vocals always mesh well with guitar-laced production and this was one of the few times where I find his off-key singing charming.  Kanye's flow on his verse is very solid, but is brought down by his lyrics, which include lines about Monica Lewinsky and naming his hypothetical girl "Aria" just to end his verse with a play on the word "diarrhea."

I think Kanye West and Kid Cudi have great chemistry and I'm looking forward to what they do on their album.  I will be reviewing that album tomorrow or sometime this weekend if there are other releases.