The album, which was produced entirely by the duo themselves, debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States.
WZRD's lead singer 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: "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 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.
[5] On November 10, 2011, Kid Cudi revealed that the only guest appearance on the album would be Australian indie-rock band Empire of the Sun.
[6][7] On November 18, 2011, Kid Cudi renamed the band once again to 'WZRD', and announced that the album would be released on his 28th birthday, January 30, 2012.
[8][9][10] On November 20 Kid Cudi announced via Twitter that his upcoming album will not contain any profanity including the use of the word nigga.
On December 5, 2011, Kid Cudi released a snippet of "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", the album's lead single.
However, for making you guys wait a little longer we will release ‘Brake‘ & ‘Teleport 2 Me‘ on iTunes on the previously said date.
"[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] According to Kid Cudi, bands that inspired the album include Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Pixies and Pink Floyd.
[23] The album was the first to be released under Wicked Awesome Records, a new imprint Kid Cudi had announced in April 2011, in conjunction with Kanye West's G.O.O.D.
[24][25][26] At a private listening session in Los Angeles, Dot da Genius acknowledged that he originally wanted to record the album in the best possible studio they could be in, but Cudi interjected saying he believed the album needed a raw and gritty feel which led to recording on the tour bus and at his home.
Although the album will not receive an explicit warning, Best Buy posed a challenge as they did try to claim it contained cursing because of the word "pussies" in the song "Upper Room".
Luke [Steele] and Nick [Littlemore], they added a lot of the background ambiance, those chants and trippy sounds.
[28] The album begins with "The Arrival", an instrumental track, where Cudi and Dot da Genius showcase their skills.
"Teleport 2 Me, Jamie", an ode to Cudi's then-girlfriend, features a sample from American synthpop act Desire's "Under Your Spell" (previously included on the soundtrack to the 2011 film Drive), serves as the album's lead single and was released via digital distribution on January 31, 2012.
[30] HotNewHipHop suggested that the reception to the album was a "glaring [example] of the music media immediately shutting down Black artists for stepping outside of the confines of what is deemed as ‘Black music.’"[37] The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 66,000 physical and digital copies in the United States.
He claimed the album was under shipped and rushed by his major label in hopes that Kid Cudi would move on to Man on the Moon III, which led Cudi to let out his frustrations on online social networking service, Twitter: "Ok so just a heads up, my weak ass label only shipped 55k physicals cuz they treated this like some indie side project tax right off.