Kid Cudi Opens Up About Drug Addiction, Kanye West, & Jay Z
Kid Cudi gets candid.
After announcing two albums for 2016, Cudder spoke with OTHERtone about his career ups and downs, struggling with addiction, and working with legends.
During the dialogue with hosts Pharrell Williams and Scott Vener, Cudi revealed the source of his unhappiness and how he developed an obsession with icons like Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison.
See the interview and check out highlights from the Q&A below.
On what caused his drug addiction: “I didn’t like that I had money and success and I had made it and everybody I had ever met in my life, good people, weren’t able to experience the same. I wasn’t able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had so much success and my friends didn’t. It was hard for me to enjoy it. I’m getting emotional now. Truthfully, it didn’t seem fair.”
On his heroes: “Not being able to talk to another human alive that really got what I was dealing with, I became obsessed with all the greats that could’ve possibly been dealing with the same thing psychologically. I dove into Morrison, Hendrix, Kurt early on, and got obsessed. I was like, ‘These are my heroes. They understand me. If I die this way, this is destiny.'”
On his first Kanye West session: “I already met him in passing but this was the actual up close and personal ‘Yo, what’s up? Welcome, man. You ready?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ ‘Alright, I got some beats I’ma give you on the thumb drive…He comes over with the thumb drive like, ‘Just have fun.’ I’m like, ‘Alright.’ I start vibing. Eight of the most wonderful beats. I think seven of them were used on the album. They all got used. The first beat I listened to, I’m like, ‘This is dope as fuck. Of course, it’s Kanye West. What the fuck am I gonna do?’ This was, ‘Hey man. We’re working on [Jay Z’s] Blueprint 3. We want you to write hooks.’ That is the song, essentially. Go!’ No deal really. We were kind of still figuring it out but no deal.”
On Jay Z’s impact: “I only got one Jay Z song and I still can’t believe I got that one Jay Z song. I’m so appreciative. I see him now and I’m like, ‘Thank you. It means a lot to me.'”
On musicians today: “This is where young kids get fucked up right now. They take a picture with Kanye and be like, ‘I made it.’ I had those two in the bag. They are the songs that we know today. I was still never satisfied. I was like, ‘Fuck that. I still can do better. High-five! Yeah, cool. What’s the third one you want?’ No time for celebration. OK, the anxiety is out. Let’s make 10 more. These little ni**as get excited when they get a pat on the back or the blog write-up and they ain’t did shit.”