Kid Cudi's Struggle with Fame: 'I'm Not Justin Timberlake'

Make no mistake about it. Kid Cudi is more than happy to sign autographs and pose for photos with his fans, but he does draw the line somewhere.

The “Day ‘N’ Nite” rapper is always cordial when fans approach him. “I always stop, shake a hand, say ‘Whattup,’ take a picture if someone wants to take a picture, or sign something,” he tells staging-rapup.kinsta.cloud.

But like his mentor Kanye West, Cudi struggles with the intense glare of the spotlight. “When people follow you, and you can tell when they’re following you, and you’re going to shop or eat and people are staring, it’s the typical thing, but then it’s like, ‘C’mon, am I really that famous?’ You have to ask yourself that.”

He may be well-known, but Mr. Solo Dolo still doesn’t put himself in the same league as one of his more famous peers. “I’m not Justin Timberlake; I’m just this dude and I never tried to make myself seem larger than life,” he explains. “What you see is what you get in my music. I just don’t really understand it in my brain, so that’s why it’s kinda creepy.”

Kid Cudi can currently be seen on the TV series “How to Make It in America,” airing Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO.

–Reporting by Georgette Cline