| WZRD | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Wizard, 2 Be Continuum |
| Origin | Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Genres | Experimental rock, psychedelic rock, alternative rock, acid rock |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Labels | Wicked Awesome, HeadBanga Muzik, Universal Republic |
| Members | |
| Kid Cudi Dot da Genius |
|
WZRD[1] is an American alternative rock duo, formed in New York City in 2010. It consists of American recording artist Kid Cudi and American record producer Dot da Genius. Originally named Wizard, 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, but it’s still wizardry at its finest". The second time being on November 18th, 2011 to WZRD.[2][3] On December 6th, 2011 Kid Cudi revealed "The Wizard", as performed by Black Sabbath, inspired him to use the term "Wizard".[4] Their debut studio album will be released on January 30, 2012.[5]
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In addition to being very good friends, Dot da Genius has produced some of Kid Cudi's earliest work from his demos[6], to songs on his critically acclaimed mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi (2008) which was the first project to feature their hit single, "Day 'n' Nite". Since then they have worked together on Cudi's first album Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009) as well as his sophomore album, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010).[7][8] 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 riffs on this." So I had my homie B-rent (Brint Ewart of Headbanga Muzik aka Woodro Skillson), 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 [Brent's*] guitar 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 a ill riff that we could make a song with."
Kid Cudi first unveiled the project in January 2011 after returning to Twitter announcing a new album he was hoping to have out by the summer.[9][10] On May 31st, 2011 Cudi released the first offering from his rock project, a song titled "Perfect is the Word". It was the first song Kid Cudi and Dot da Genius worked on for the album.[11] During a Ustream broadcast they revealed a song titled "Rocket" and announced it as the second single.[12]
Kid Cudi and Dot da Genius recorded a song planned for the 2011 film Fright Night. The song, titled "No One Believes Me" was first announced June 7th, 2011 through Kid Cudi's tumblr, when he announced he will be shooting the music video for it on June 11th with Fright Night director Craig Gillespie. The video was released on August 12th, 2011 and the song itself was officially released August 23rd, 2011.[13][14][15][16] Through his tumblr Kid Cudi also unveiled the production credits for "No One Believes Me" and revealed that he was on guitar and accompanied Dot da Genius on drums, while Dot da Genius also handled bass and piano.[17]
On November 10, 2011, Kid Cudi revealed that the only guest appearance on the album is Australian indie-rock band Empire of the Sun.[18][19] On November 18th, 2011, Kid Cudi announced that the yet-to-be-titled album, will be released on his 28th birthday, January 30th, 2012 and will be released under the collaborative duo name of 'WZRD'.[20][21][22] Kid Cudi released "Brake", the second offering from the WZRD on November 21st, 2011. On December 5th, 2011, Kid Cudi released a snippet of "Teleport 2 Me", the lead single off the album.
G.O.O.D. Music rapper Kid Cudi has announced via twitter that his upcoming album will be radio-friendly and not contain any profanity. Along with the lack of curse words, Cudi's new LP will also not use the N word that so many rapper are fond of. Cudi took to twitter to announce the news to his fans, saying: "News update! Me and @DotDaGenius are no longer called 2 Be Continuum. The world will call us W Z R D, which is short for WIZARD. The title of the album is still undetermined..." "And heres the biggest news, the official release date will be January 30, my birthday. Had to push it back to get the proper time to mix and master, want it to sonically be where it needs to be. For your smoke sesh enjoyment!" "Were gonna release a snippet of the first single soon. You will be pleased. Ladies, your gonna have something to shake those booties to. Also, the WZRD album does not contain any profanity or the usage of the word "n*gga". A universal album for everyone." "Haha man some of yall really upset theres no profanity?? You know songs can be written with out them right? Some of yall listen to so much ignorant shit that thats all you know or are accustomed to. My fans are smart, I know yall better then this."
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Sales | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | AUS | CAN | FRA | GER | IRE | NL | NZ | SWI | UK | ||||
| WZRD |
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TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | ||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Alt. |
AUS | CAN | UK | |||||
| "Teleport 2 Me" |
2012 | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | TBR | WZRD | ||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||
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