Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi’s “Antergalactic”, the rapper’s massive Netflix special that accompanies his eighth studio album of the same name, is proof that multihyphenate can do “Do what he wants.”
The Otherworldly Animated Netflix Special is an immersion in New York City dripping with milky hues, tactile textures, wavy synth and adrenaline rushes that evoke the spirited youthful love experience. a passion project and love work From the cast, who invited several of their real-life friends (such as Timothée Chalamet, Ty Dolla$ignor, Laura Harrier and Vanessa Hudgens) to lend their voices to the show, “Antergalactic” took several years to create, initially a Conceived as a season-long series with six to eight installments and only one animated episode.
“For a while, I sat at this thought of wanting to compile a [where] Each season will have a certain theme,” Mescudi told TheWrap. “This first season that I was developing in my mind, the theme was love.”
The musician, who has begun to establish himself as a producer and actor in the world of Hollywood, said he had a conversation with Kenya Barris (who serves as executive producer) about Netflix’s animation goals. helped him commit to the visual undertaking.
“I was like, ‘Okay, here’s an animated episode of my anthology, what can I do is I expand that story and just make it the whole thing and go with it.
From then on, it was about assembling the right creative team to ensure a “collaborative process” filled with “pure love and passion and talent” would deliver a piece of artistry yet unseen in the animation world. Animation director Fletcher Moules, writers Ian Edelman and Maurice Williams, former Netflix animation execs Mike Moon and Elizabeth Porter and the late Virgil Abloh, to whom the project pays tribute, all helped stitch “Antergalactic” together.
Barris said that the team drew from previous animation styles, such as exemplified in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, but that the project should embody Mescudi’s creative vision and stand on its own. This meant paying special attention to character designs, such as accurately depicting natural dark hair, and depicting the city itself as a living being, with color gradients and changing tones. Then, of course, there were the sweet elements of the project, which together inspire its main love interests, graffiti artist-turned-comedy designer Jabari (Mescudi) and photographer Meadow (Jessica Williams).
“It’s the first time we’ve ever seen an album and a show come together,” Barris told TheWrap. “Each track of the album represents a chapter in the program. I really like that it feels proprietary, and I think people will take that as well as it might launch something else that we’re looking for in IP.” Can be used as a franchising piece.
Mescudi said, “The musical element was always in the first place and it was even more, ‘How can I bring the visuals and the music and marry the two and that’s exactly the right thing, and it’s not like what we’ve seen before. Is it, like a visual album?'”
In fact, the television program contains easter eggs for longtime fans of Cudi: Jabari’s fabricated comic book character “Mr. Rager” is named after a 2010 song from the artist’s second album. The eponymous song was featured on her debut LP in 2009.
Barris joked of his involvement in the TV program, “I rolled a lot of Scott’s weed… No, I feel like we knew we wanted to do something special. That’s what Scott kept pushing for. He was like, ‘I want this to be bigger.'”
The producer compared “Antergalactic” to a “painting” that is seeing its first large audience, adding that the project was “painstakingly done”. “None of it is accidental,” he said, explaining that he wants viewers to feel inspired to create ideas “out of the box” when they watch.
For Williams, the story is about “two imperfect people” who are looking for each other.
“I liked the idea that you can still be happy and still have progress, and still be going somewhere,” she said. “You are a whole and complete person just as you are, and no matter what, you are still worthy of love.”
