WZRD () is an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band and record production team, composed of longtime friends and frequent collaborators,

Dot da Genius Oladipo Omishore, known professionally as Dot da Genius is an American record producer and audio engineer from Brooklyn, New York City. He first gained recognition in 2008 for producing "Day 'n' Nite" by American musician Kid Cudi, with whom he ...

and

Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Yo ...

. Formed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2010, Cudi originally named the band Wizard, inspired by British heavy metal band

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

's song of the same name. However, Cudi renamed the band on two occasions, the first being in April 2011 to 2 Be Continuum, explaining: "I needed something more original, something different...". The second time occurred in November 2011, to the band's current namesake. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous debut album, '' WZRD'', was released in February 2012, peaking at number three on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart. The album was supported by the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

s, "Brake" and "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie".

History

2006–10: Early years and formation

Scott "

" Mescudi and Oladipo "

" Omishore met through a mutual friend, with whom Cudi once worked at Abercrombie & Fitch. After working together for about seven months, Cudi was being evicted from his apartment. With plans to move back to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Dot da Genius' parents allowed Cudi to stay with them and their family, so the two could continue working together and pursue their music careers. In addition to being very good friends, Dot da Genius has produced some of Kid Cudi's earliest work from his

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

, to songs on his critically acclaimed mixtape ''

A Kid Named Cudi ''A Kid Named Cudi'' is the debut mixtape by American rapper Kid Cudi, released on July 17, 2008, by New York City streetwear brand 10.Deep, in conjunction with independent record label Fool's Gold Records. Considered his breakout project, the ...

'' (2008), which was Cudi's breakout project and the first to feature their

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

Day 'n' Nite "Day 'n' Nite" is a song by American rapper Kid Cudi. The song was written and produced by Cudi alongside his longtime collaborator and friend, Brooklyn-based producer Dot da Genius. It was issued as Cudi's commercial debut single on February 5, ...

". Since then they have worked together on Cudi's debut album '' Man on the Moon: The End of Day'' (2009) as well as his second album, '' Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager'' (2010). It wasn't until they were recording "Trapped in My Mind" for Cudi's second album, that ideas of a rock album surfaced. In an interview with ''Complex'' magazine, Dot da Genius recounted the recording session: "It was pretty much the same time that we built a studio in Cudi's crib. We did "Trapped In My Mind" and we were dwelling on it like, "This is crazy, we need to put some

guitar riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanime ...

s on this." So I had my homie B-rent, come through Cudi's crib with his guitar, and Cudi did the guitar riff with his mouth cause Cudi couldn't play the guitar. So Brent replayed it. Then Cudi picked up rent'sguitar and started fiddling around with it, and I swear to you within like five minutes, he had a legitimate guitar riff. He never played a guitar a day in his life, but had an ill riff that we could make a song with."

2011–13: Debut album

Kid Cudi first unveiled the project in January 2011, after returning to

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and announcing a new album he was hoping to have out by the summer: "pushing for a summer release of the wizard album... wizard is a rock album, no raps, just singing. brand new thing... workin on some

Jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...

and 'Ye shit... new mixtape ''A Man Named Scott'' thats this summah for all those who fucks with my raps, this is for u since ima be all rocked out with the wizard shit. also its free... oh and new york catch me if u can, i start filmin " how to make it" in march." In April 2011, Cudi renamed the band from Wizard to 2 Be Continuum, explain: "I needed something more original, something different, but it's still wizardry at its finest". The second time occurred in November 2011, to the band's current namesake. On May 31, 2011 Cudi released a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

titled "Perfect is the Word". It was the first song Cudi and Dot da Genius worked on for the album. During a

Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest offices. ...

broadcast, they unveiled a song titled "Rocket" and announced it as the second single. Kid Cudi and Dot da Genius also recorded an original song for the 2011 film, ''

Fright Night ''Fright Night'' is a 1985 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Tom Holland (in his directorial debut) and produced by Herb Jaffe. It stars Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Star ...

''. The song, titled "

No One Believes Me "No One Believes Me" is a song by American musician Kid Cudi, written and produced alongside his fellow WZRD bandmate Dot da Genius, for the 2011 horror film ''Fright Night''. The song was released on August 23, 2011 for digital download. Kid ...

", was first announced June 7, 2011 through Cudi's official

tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...

, when he announced he would be shooting the music video for it on June 11, with ''Fright Night'' director

Craig Gillespie Craig Gillespie (born 1 September 1967) is an Australian-American film, television, music video, and commercial director. He is best known for directing the films ''Lars and the Real Girl'' (2007), ''Fright Night'' (2011), ''I, Tonya'' (2017) ...

. The video was released on August 12, 2011 and the song itself was officially released August 23. Through his tumblr, Kid Cudi also unveiled the production credits for "No One Believes Me" and revealed that he was on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and accompanied Dot da Genius on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, while Dot da Genius solely handled bass and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. On November 10, 2011, Kid Cudi revealed that the only

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...

on the album would be Australian

indie-rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produce ...

band,

Empire of the Sun ''Empire of the Sun'' is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard; it was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology ...

. On November 18, 2011, Kid Cudi renamed the band once again to WZRD (pronounced one letter at a time W-Z-R-D), and announced that the album would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012. In December 2011, Cudi revealed "

The Wizard Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to: * Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic * Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...

", as performed by

, inspired his use of the term "Wizard". On November 20, Cudi announced via Twitter that the album would not contain any

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

, including the use of the word "

nigga ''Nigga'' () is a colloquial and vulgar term used in African-American Vernacular English that began as a dialect form of the word ''nigger'', an ethnic slur against black people. The word is commonly associated with hip hop music and Afri ...

". On November 21, 2011, WZRD released a song titled "Brake", as the album's first single. The next month, on December 5, 2011, Cudi released a snippet of "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", the album's second

. On January 4, 2012, Cudi confirmed on Twitter that there would be a

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

for the

ously titled album, '' WZRD'', beginning in Europe. On January 12, Dot da Genius took to Twitter to announce that he and Cudi decided to push ''WZRD'' back to a February 28, release date: "Hey guys, WZRD update. Me and Cudi have been working on our debut album and it's almost near completion. We are in the final stages of mastering but we really had to take time and pay attention to the sonics as this is new territory for us. With that being said, we have decided to change the release date. We are looking roughly at Feb 28th. Y'all know how Cudi is' and I'm the same way. Everything has to be in place and now it is. I know it's late notice, we were trying to keep the date but got wrapped up making this album perfect for y'all. However for making you guys wait a little longer we will release 'Brake' & 'Teleport 2 Me' on iTunes on the previously said date. AS WELL AS 'DOSE OF DOPENESS'. Hopefully that will hold you guys over until the album drops!" On February 13, 2012, WZRD hosted a private listening session for the album at an intimate venue in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

for a select few.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse (; born June 20, 1989) is an American actor and comedian. He has performed roles such as Fogell (McLovin) in '' Superbad'' (2007), Augie Farcques in '' Role Models'' (2008), and Chris D'Amico in '' Kick-Ass'' (20 ...

and fellow ''

How to Make It in America ''How to Make It in America'' is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on HBO from February 14, 2010, to November 20, 2011. The series follows the lives of Ben Epstein (Bryan Greenberg) and his friend Cam Calderon (Victor Rasuk) as t ...

'' co-stars

Bryan Greenberg Bryan Greenberg (born May 24, 1978) is an American actor and singer, known for his starring role as Ben Epstein in the HBO original series ''How to Make It in America'' as well as a recurring role as Jake Jagielski in the WB series ''One Tree H ...

and

Eddie Kaye Thomas Eddie Kaye Thomas (born October 31, 1980) is an American actor who rose to prominence as Paul Finch in the ''American Pie'' film series. His other notable appearances include Andy Rosenberg in the ''Harold & Kumar'' series, Jeff Woodcock in ...

, were also at attendance to show support. Following the album's playback, which ran close to 50 minutes in length, Complex Magazine's Joe La Puma hosted a Q&A for media attending the event. According to Kid Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra,

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...

and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

. When asked about a follow up to ''WZRD'', Cudi confirmed that they were already recording new music with the hopes of releasing it in the coming months. "I made a new record the other day that's really phenomenal" said Cudi, as Dot added "Expect greatness". On February 23, 2012, the entirety of the album was leaked online. Following the ''WZRDs release on February 28, the album debuted at #3 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States. The album also debuted on both the

Top Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

and

Top Alternative Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

at number one, and at #9 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocea ...

, respectively. The album was the first project released under Kid Cudi's label

Wicked Awesome Records Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New ...

. WZRD made their U.S. national television debut performing their debut single "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", on March 6, 2012, on the

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

'' Conan''. In February, shortly before the album was released, Cudi announced they would follow up with an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP). Nearly a year after the single was released, on November 19, 2012 the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie" leaked online. However Cudi wasn't disgruntled, stating on Twitter: "thanx for all the love on the Teleport 2 Me video y'all. It leaked but I'm glad u guys got to see it."

2013–present: Production work

On July 2, 2013 Cudi liberated a new song titled "Going to the Ceremony", via his

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

account. The song was released with the tag, "produced by WZRD", which confirms the guitars and drums in this track are most likely played by Cudi and Dot. Cudi later revealed the track is for his EP ''Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon'', which would feature more production from WZRD. On September 4, 2013,

King Chip Charles Jawanzaa Worth (born October 20, 1986), known by his stage names King Chip and Chip tha Ripper, is an American rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. He is notable for amassing several self-released mixtapes, as well as for his work with longtime ...

released his ''44108'' mixtape, which included the song "Vortex", featuring Kid Cudi and

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 20 ...

; WZRD were credited as the song's producers. On April 24, 2020, Cudi revealed that he is still working on new music for a future WZRD release, joking that "we take a decade off between albums." On August 20, 2022, when asked by a fan on Twitter if he had any desire to record another rock music album, Cudi responded “ robablynot”. However in December 2022, Cudi stated on Twitter that another WZRD album is still possible.https://twitter.com/KiDCuDi/status/1605519379713572864

Band members

;Current members *

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

– drums,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Production discography

WZRD - '' WZRD''

*01. "The Arrival" *02. "High Off Life" *03. "The Dream Time Machine" (featuring

) *04. "Love Hard" *05. "Live & Learn" *06. "Brake" *07. "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie" ** Sample Credit:

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of aff ...

- "Under Your Spell" *08. " Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" *09. "Efflictim" *10. "Dr. Pill" *11. "Upper Room" ;Leftover *00. "Perfect is the Word" *00. "Rocket"

King Chip Charles Jawanzaa Worth (born October 20, 1986), known by his stage names King Chip and Chip tha Ripper, is an American rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. He is notable for amassing several self-released mixtapes, as well as for his work with longtime ...
– ''44108'' (2013)

*09. "Vortex" (featuring

& Kid Cudi)

Kid Cudi – '' Satellite Flight'' (2014)

*02. "Going to the Ceremony" *03. "Satellite Flight" ;Leftover *00. " Love."

Various artists – ''Need for Speed'' soundtrack (2014)

*04. "Hero" (Kid Cudi featuring

Skylar Grey Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. In 2004, at the age of 17, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Music ...

)

Kid Cudi - ''
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' ''Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper Kid Cudi. The album was released on December 16, 2016, through Wicked Awesome Records and Republic Records. It succeeds Cudi's alternative rock album ''Speedin' Bullet 2 ...
'' (2016)

;Leftover *00. "Goodbye"

Music videos

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:WZRD Rock music duos Musical groups established in 2010 Musical groups from Brooklyn Record production duos African-American rock musical groups Republic Records artists Alternative rock groups from New York (state) American pop rock music groups American musical duos 2010 establishments in New York City Kid Cudi