Kid Cudi & Kanye West Rock Out on “Erase Me” (Listen & Download)

Although the radio rip's been floating around the interwebs for a minute, today we finally have the high-quality version of Kid Cudi and Kanye West's collab, "Erase Me", in our eardrums, and the track's got me feeling a little schizophrenic. Part of me wants to rip it apart, and the other part of me wants to enjoy the hell out of it. Let's take em one at a time.

We might as well get the hate out of the way first. My jaded side says this is an obvious attempt by Cudi to unite his two overlapping fan bases, hip-hoppers and hipster rockers, in one huge mega-hit. It's exactly the kind of thing people who wear Converse will love. And while it's catchy, there's no getting around the fact that Cudi just isn't that good of a singer. It works for him when his vocals are surrounded by beats and rhymes, but as a rock frontman, he's lacking. Oh, and that Kanye verse feels forced. Oh, the "arena" is in "Korea", how convenient. You can literally hear him thinking, "Ok, what rhymes with arena?....um....Korea!" And don't get me started on that "diarrhea" line.

Ok, so the other part of me, and the part that's winning out, just wants to shut up and enjoy the track. This is far from what I was hoping for when I heard there was a new Cudi and Ye track, but if I don't think about it too much it's pretty damn enjoyable. If "Erase Me' gets played on radio all summer, I'm actually good with that. Cudi should be trying to widen his fan base, and I can't hate the man for trying.

"Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager" is scheduled to come out on Sept. 14, the same day the new Kanye, Big Sean and Consequence albums drop, but there's a snowball's chance in hell of that actually happening. We'll see...

Download "Erase Me" via UserShare
Download "Erase Me" via Mediafire

Rock out with your rooster our right now and listen to the track below.