Kid Cudi Says Kanye West Needs to Be Held Accountable for His ‘F–ked Up S–t’: ‘He Does It Over and Over’
Rapper Kid Cudi is speaking out about his complicated history with Kanye West. The two musicians had been friends and creative collaborators for nearly 15 years. But in light of the recent controversy surrounding West’s violent actions post-divorce from Kim Kardashian, and her subsequent romance with Pete Davidson, Cudi chose to sever their friendship.
Now, Cudi is making his feelings toward the “Heartless” singer known in an explosive interview.
Kanye West and Kid Cudi’s history and recent feud about Pete Davidson
Cudi first signed to West’s label, G.O.O.D. Music, in 2008, after West took a special interest in the up-and-coming rapper’s career. They appeared in each other’s recent documentaries, and have even been featured on each other’s albums.
But behind the scenes, their relationship was rocky. According to Cudi, the two artists frequently feuded due to creative differences, though they almost always reconciled through the falling-outs. After their latest clash on social media, it seems like Cudi isn’t feeling so apologetic.
It all went down in February of this year, when West announced that Cudi wasn’t going to be featured on his album, Donda 2. He cited Cudi’s apparent friendship with his former wife’s new fling — Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson — as grounds for not asking the rapper to appear on any of his tracks.
West took to Instagram and posted a photo of Cudi posing with Davidson and Academy Award-nominated actor, Timothée Chalamet. According to Esquire, the picture had an edited “X” over Davidson’s face. West captioned the image: “I just wanted my friend to have my back, the knife just goes in deeper,” in all caps.
Cudi fired back with a tweet of his own, where he called West a “dinosaur” and said, “Everyone knows I’ve been the best thing about ur albums since I met u. Ima pray for u brother.”
The 38-year-old musician then confirmed in April that he and West were no longer friends. According to Cudi, the incident ended up negatively impacting his mental health.
He told Esquire in an August interview: “Do you know how it feels to wake up one day, look at your social media, and you’re trending because somebody’s talking some s–t about you? And then you got this person’s trolls sending you messages on Instagram and Twitter? All in your comments? That s–t pissed me off.”
“That he had the power to f–k with me that week. That he used his power to f–k with me. That pissed me off,” Cudi continued. “You f–king with my mental health now, bro.”
Kid Cudi has ‘zero tolerance’ for Kanye’s behavior
Although the “Day ‘n’ Night” singer seems to have found his peace in the wake of his fallout with West, he’s continuing to speak out about the rapper’s questionable behavior.
But in his eyes, it’s not just West’s unhinged social media ramblings that bothers the rapper. Rather, the fact that fans seldom hold West accountable as he faces few severe consequences for his actions.
“I’m at a place in my life where I have zero tolerance for the wrong energies,” said Cudi. “I’ve watched so many people throughout the years that are close to him be burned by him doing some f–ked-up s–t. And then they turn around and forgive him. And there’s no repercussions. You’re back cool with this man. He does it over and over.”
He then addressed West directly, saying: “I’m not one of your kids. I’m not Kim. It don’t matter if I’m friends with Pete or not friends with Pete. None of this s–t had anything to do with me.”
“If you can’t be a grown man and deal with the fact that you lost your woman? That’s not my f–king problem,” Cudi added. “You need to own up to your s–t like every man in this life has. I’ve lost women, too. And I’ve had to own up to it. I don’t need that in my life. I don’t need it.”
Inside Kid Cudi’s complicated relationship with Kanye
Cudi also spoke at length about rising to fame in West’s shadow. The rapper was just 24 years old and new on the scene when he was signed to G.O.O.D. Music — something he was initially hesitant to do at first.
At the time, he was afraid people would credit his success to someone other than him, which actually ended up happening in the fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreaks. Cudi provided vocals on many of the songs, and is credited for co-writing “Heartless,” “Welcome To Heartbreak,” “Paranoid,” and “Robocop.” The album dropped before Cudi could even release his own debut record.
“I just want to clear that up for anybody that feels like Kanye made my career or made me who I am,” Cudi told Esquire. “He brought me on to do 808s. I thought that was really f–king awesome. I wanted to be a part of a family and saw G.O.O.D. Music as that opportunity. So I finally said yeah. Kanye West did not come and pluck me out of Applebee’s or the Bape store.”
Ultimately, Cudi doesn’t want to be involved in any West-related drama. But unlike Drake — who made amends with West after beefing for several years — Cudi isn’t afraid to make his voice heard on the matter, as he doesn’t see him and West rekindling their friendship anytime soon. He concluded, “It’s gonna take a motherf–king miracle for me and that man to be friends again.”
