In 2009, Kid Cudi released Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, an autobiographical concept album that explores Cudi’s depression, anxiety, and isolation. Within the narrative, Cudi uses recreational drugs “escape” from depression; the transcendental drug trip as mental stimulation simulating space travel. Cudi’s concept album works in conversation with Black national identity and racist drug wars. Cudi adopts escapist imagery from Pan African nationalism and Afrofuturism, reimagining escape as a psychedelic drug trip. This paper examines contemporary practices of escapism through hip-hop music that satirizes the racism in nationalism, the space race, and the war on drugs.
