Cudi's combination of lyrical openness and stardusted production felt fearless and new, and the personality that came into form on 2009's Man on the Moon: End of Day would influence the next wave of emotionally charged rappers. The debut studio album from the Brooklyn-based, Cleveland-bred rapper expanded on the stark emotional landscapes blueprinted by Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak just a year earlier, with Cudi inspecting his insecurities, anxieties and other various demons with a shocking vulnerability that was still uncommon on rap records at the time.
The first installment of Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon series was released in 2009, when he was just starting to establish himself as a distinctive creative force.
