KID CUDI ON NYLON MAGAZINE

"Kid Cudi has come a long way from Wendy’s, where he worked as a fry-and-nugget cook at 14 so he could afford cool clothes. “I was determined to be the first kid at my school with a full Sean John outfit.” recalls the now 25 year-old Cleveland-based MC. “That was the fly shit back then.” That same determination has steered Kid Cudi (pronounced CUD-ee) into a position as one of hip-hop’s most promsing prospects. After writing his firsy rhyme at 12, the artist, born Scott Mescudi, plugged away at several odd jobs in his hometown (bartending, valet-parking) before temporarily decample to Brooklyn, where he met his manage, former Def Jam A&R Patrik “Plain Pat” Raynolds, and threw himself into recording. Last summer, Cudi released his genre-jumping mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, featuring “Day ‘n’ Nite.” A haunting tale with a ridiculously original beat about a castaway stoner. “I wanted that one innovative record that could change the game.” says Cudi, who also lent lyric and vocals to Kanye West’s Auto-Tune-fueled 808’s & Heartbreak.

Despite a temporary retirement from rap earlier this year (”What I was aiming for was destroying certain things around me”), Cudi’s drive hasn’t decelerated. With his debut album, Man on the Moon: end of Day, droping this month via Universal Motown and West’s G.O.O.D Msuic, he hopes listenes will learn a bit about him, and about themselves, in the process. “The whole album is about self-reflection. My sound is my voice , what I go through. I talk about my journey-and nobody else can talk about my journey but me.”

Via datnewcudi