Remy Danton
All Star
Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi is beaming from behind a Los Angeles studio console as his new single, “Frequency,” blasts through the speakers. Both the song’s sound (progressive, melodic rap) and the smile are surprising, coming from the 32-year-old. Cudi has come a long way since his late-2000s come-up, when he hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Day ‘N’ Nite.” In the years following, he split with mentor Kanye West; openly struggled with drugs and depression; released a critically panned alt-rock album, 2015’s Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven (Republic), his first to debut below the Billboard 200’s top 10; and often seemed to prioritize his acting career (his latest role is in Unified Pictures’ Vincent-N-Roxxy, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18) over rapping. But now, fresh off a feature on West’s No. 1 album The Life of Pablo and with new music on the way, Cudi is ready to pick up where he left off.
Here, Cudi talks about getting past depression, working on West’s Pablo, and why Man on the Moon 3 -- the last of his beloved trilogy -- isn’t happening.
So you just put out “Frequency” and “All In” on SoundCloud. It feels like a fresh take on your Man on the Moon stuff, which is way different than your Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven album you just dropped.
Anytime you do an album like [Bullet] and you’re exploring, it’s stressful. I wanted to get back to having a little bit more fun. I always had the most fun when I was just rapping, because it’s easy. But I’ve come to find that people think I’m completely terrible, since I haven’t rapped in years. They’re so naive. It never really bothered me. But when I came back from my quest, I looked around like, “These are the new hot ni--as. This is what y’all think is the best sh*t? This sh*t is not that dope.” But where I ruffled some feathers was when I’d have an outspoken opinion about hip-hop, but I‘d have a guitar in my hand. I wasn’t even a part of the genre at that moment. I can’t talk sh*t while doing rock music. That pisses people off. So if I’m going to say sh*t is fu*ked up, I have to have a solution, which is the music. And I have a lot of solutions to fix the inauthentic nature of the business right now. Without me in it, Gotham City suffers.
So no more indie rock Kid Cudi?
Speedin’ Bullet was my last outing as the dark, depressing character that people place me as. I needed to get that out of me and that was the only way I could do it. I didn’t want to come back to hip-hop making that type of music. We did that already.
People say, “Do Man on the Moon 3!” Yeah, I could’ve done that. But it wouldn’t have been anything anyone liked. It would’ve been forced. I’m not in a rush. I have six major-label albums. Artists don’t get that anymore, especially with the weird sh*t that I do. We have been blessed to be in the game eight years later.
You haven’t done much press lately.
I haven’t talked about music. People think I’ve been quiet because Speedin’ Bullet was a sh*tshow. But to me that was the best thing to happen last year. People are still talking about it. Some people hated it, but they kept talking about it [laughs].
Andre 3000 recently said he loved it.
I’ve known Andre for a while now, and I’ve had the honor of just being able to hang back with him and talk music. I respect him so much. Nobody supports me. The newer guys like A$AP Rocky and Travi$ Scott show love. But none of the people in my bracket open their mouth about Kid Cudi. I don’t know why and I don’t give a f---. It’s kind of disheartening sometimes.
You seem much happier -- and you’re back to rapping. What happened?
I really came out of that drug sh*t. People don’t know how real it was. I used drugs to try to fix my depression. It’s funny. When I got arrested [in 2010 with cocaine], people said I was an addict. But I was never an addict; I was just on a ride for a little bit. Playing rock was my way of saying, “F--- everyone.” It wasn’t well-received … The last thing I was catering to was the world.
How did you get through it?
I thought about how much of a struggle it has been the past eight years, to be in the news and pretend to be happy when, really, I was living a nightmare. But I can go anywhere, whenever I want. My daughter is in one of the best private schools in the nation. I have everything I ever dreamed of in terms of stability. But I hadn’t been living that reality, because depression was f---ing me up. So this year I chose to be happy. I just woke up.
From an outsider’s perspective you have and had it all. Why did it take you four albums to figure that out?
In the business, everybody is a f------ cartoon. And every once in a while, someone comes in that’s really f------ human. I like to think of myself as one of those artists. I didn’t feel any rush to fix myself for anyone. If I felt like I needed to write four albums of my madness to feel alright, then so be it. And I knew that whatever I wrote would help somebody somewhere. So it was better getting it out than to keep it bottled up. [Someone dealing with or getting through depression] is a message kids need to hear. Some people deal with things and it takes them a little longer. Being in the public eye is tough.
Speedin’ Bullet wasn’t a commercial success. Making it helped you through a tough time, but does it hurt that even your “true fans” didn’t buy it?
I’m thinking, “Man, I’ve done all these albums. Where are the people who bought Indicud or the others before? Who have I been making music for?” [When an album doesn’t sell well] it makes you question yourself. As an artist, I’m always questioning myself. But this was the first time that I questioned my fan base and if I even have one at all. Who are these people?
That’s why whatever I do next will be free. And I don’t even feel obligated to do Man on the Moon 3 anymore. As of right now, people should just get that off their mind. That’s not ever going to happen. It’d be different if the first two were platinum. They’re not even platinum! Man on the Moon 1 is like 860,000 sold. It’s hanging on by a thread.
That’s going to be a hard pill to swallow for MOTM fans. But “Frequency” sounds like you’re getting back to that vibe, especially with the rapping.
But I’m coming back to do what I love, which is rap. But I’m also doing it for the motherf--rs that slept on Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. That was a project. A director isn’t going to do the same movie every time. A novelist isn’t going to write the same type of book. But you guys are used to sh*t being a certain way and people staying the same. Kids don’t know what a true artist is nowadays until they see a picture of Warhol or Basquiat. Then they’re like, “Oh, cool. That’s Basquiat!” But you’re over here sh*tting on artists of the now. That confuses me. But it’s not my job to understand. It’s my job to create.
