Kid Cudi is a hip-hop artist, actor and performer who doesn’t stay put. He keeps changing while everybody else is saming, it seems. The Ohio rapper and sometime singer was embraced by Kanye West, then there were public spats and resolutions with Kanye, same with Drake, minus the resolutions.
Cudi pioneered the slightly psychedelic and introspective confessional style that eventually became prominent in hip-hop over the last eight years or so. His two “Man on the Moon” albums, in 2009 and 2010, were hugely influential. There was a lot of weed involved, and Cudi has since been in and out of rehab, acknowledging his struggles with drugs and depression. He’s also shown an interest in indie rock. He’s collaborated with MGMT, Ratatat and St. Vincent, and Cudi released a much-discussed indie rock album, 2015’s “Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven,” which had a spooky lo-fi outsider-art cry-for-help quality to it, with crude guitar, mumbled lyrics and hissy demo quality. He’s since returned to hip-hop with “Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'” from last year.
Kid Cudi will be at Toyota Presents Oakdale Theater, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. $35 to $104. 203-265-1501, livenation.com.
