The track clunks along on rickety drum programming and effects-heavy pianos and guitar noises, sounding less like a bandwagon-jumping blogger-rapper's "indie crossover" attempt than a weird, out-of-time throwback to the sort of one-hit wonders that characterized 1998 modern-rock radio (Kid Cudi's singing voice, for instance, reminds me vaguely of Marcy Playground). There is plenty of such poetry on display here ("sorrow/tomorrow" rhyme schemes abound) as well as Cudi's flat, toneless singing. Ratatat produced the track, an interesting left-field choice on paper, and MGMT sings the chorus. Kid Cudi 'Pursuit Of Happiness (Extended Steve Aoki Remix)': Crush a bit, little bit, roll it up, take a hit Feelin' lit, feelin' light, 2 am summer night I don'. Over what, we don't know whatever is gnawing away at Cudi, he doesn't tell us much about it, and that points to a problem he maybe should be worried about: while his soul may be eloquent, his pen is decidedly lumpen, seemingly capable of producing only fifth-grader poetry. Everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold, hey.
Chorus: Andrew VanWyngarden & Kid Cudi I'm on the pursuit of happiness, and I know.
#MAX PAYNE 2 SCRIPT FULL#
On "Day 'N' Nite", he was tossing and turning now he wakes up screaming. Rather lay awake in the bed full of sorrow. "Tell me what you know about night terrors/ Nothin!" he sings on "Pursuit of Happiness".
You may not have picked up on this, despite him signalling it desperately from thousands of yards away, but Kid Cudi is a sensitive soul, wrestling with the sorts of inner torments that you or I could only imagine.