Image via Complex Original
There's no artist Complex has covered quite like Kid Cudi. Sure, we dedicate coverage to all the biggest stars in music but Cudder is special and the respect is mutual. Back in 2008 Cudi rhymed, "They say I'm Complex just like the magazine/I wear my closet Complex like a magazine." Just a year later he graced our cover for the first time—but certainly not the last. Over the years, we've gotten to know Cudi better than most stars and we've learned a lot of interesting tidbits about him. With his new album Indicud in stores this week (you can buy it right here on iTunes), we went and dug through the Plex archives—and a few other publications—to bring you 25 Things You Didn't Know About Kid Cudi...
Written by Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)
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His first appearance in Complex wasn't on the cover, but in Street Detail in 2007.
Back when he was just a fly guy roaming the streets of New York City, our photographers snapped a photo of Cudi for the Street Detail section of the magazine. The now defunct section would profile regular joes on the street who had a fresh sense of style, so naturally Cudi was a perfect candidate.
His father was Mexican/Native American.
Losing his father at the tender age of 11 was traumatic for Cudi, who admired his dad. Thanks to his father—who was half Mexican and half Native American—Cudi is part Hispanic. In an interview with MTV, he spoke about his little-known alter-ego. "Juan Pablo is that character that I created. He was raised in a Mexican family, but he's black."
"Day 'n' Nite" was inspired by Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks On Me."
While discussing his favorite albums with Complex, Cudi revealed to us that not only did the Geto Boy's classic track inspire his breakout hit, but it's also his favorite song—and We Can't Be Stopped is one of his favorite albums.
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In 2010, he bought Fred Durst's old house in L.A.
Although he doesn't live there anymore, back in 2010 we went house hunting with Cudi when he copped a new crib in Los Angeles. It turned out the house had previously belonged to Limp Bizkit's front man, Fred Durst. Wonder what Durst thought of the WZRD album?
Drake wanted to remix "Day 'n' Nite" in 2007.
Gotta give Drake his credit—he's never one to sleep on up-and-coming talent. Back in 2007, he got hip to Cudi before either one of them really blew up and tried to get on a remix for what would eventually become a smash hit, "Day 'n' Nite." Cudi seems OK with the fact that they didn't work together back then, though it would be interesting to see them collaborate now.
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When Kanye came to the BAPE store Cudi worked at, he bought a jacket that Cudi forgot to remove a security sensor for.
Everyone knows the legend of how Cudi met Kanye at the Bape store and handed him his demo. But few knew the story of what happened when Kanye bought a jacket. After failing to remove the security sensor on the jacket, Cudi had to chase Kanye down in SoHo to fix it. In September 2009, BAPE gave Cudi his own T-shirt in honor of his music career and time spent as an employee there.
He owns a Maschine which King Chip got him for Father's Day.
One of the hallmarks of Indicud is that Cudi produced most of it. Fans wondering what he used to produce it need look no further than the Maschine production system. We can all thank Cudi's good friend King Chip for giving it to him.
He has a framed hologram of Jimi Hendrix in his house.
In Cudi's new crib in Los Feliz, Los Angeles he keeps a framed hologram of Hendrix that you see right when you walk in the front door. Although Cudi didn't grow up listening to Hendrix, he delved into his music later in life and drew inspiration from the guitar god for all of his albums.
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He got expelled from high school for threatening to punch his principal.
Year later, in a blog post where Cudi claimed he was going to quit rap, he gave a slightly different version: "I already went to high school once, and got expelled cuz it wasn't for me." Cudi later earned his GED.
He planned on majoring in film at the University of Toledo before dropping out.
Cudi only spent a year at the University of Toledo but decided school wasn't for him. Dropping out of school also made him realize Cleveland wasn't the place for him. "I had so many big dreams," he told The Plain Dealer. "But Ohio wasn't the place for me to execute them." When we first interviewed him and asked about his smoking habits, he compared label meetings to school. "It was so boring, like I was in college again."
He claims he was once beaten by a police officer but didn't have the money for a lawyer to press charges.
After getting arrested for underaged drinking at University of Toledo in 2004, Cudi got into it with a police officer. "He cuffed me and punched me in the face and really brutally kicked my ass to the point where I could've pressed charges," he told Complex in 2009. "But it's like, we didn't have money for lawyer fees and court fees and all that shit and it would've been a dead issue."
After dropping out of college, he was determined to join the Navy but was denied due to his juvenile police record.
According to Cudi, his police record stems from being arrested for assault when he was 16. He says he was just an innocent bystander.
At the premiere video release party for Kanye's "Stronger," Cudi passed "Day 'n' Nite" to A-Trak and had him play it twice.
While the song played, Cudi went and got Kanye's attention. He spotted him across and room and let him know that it was his song that was playing. According to Cudi, Kanye looked back, smiled, and nodded his approval of the song.
He "broke down" when his 18-year-old fan Ben Breedlove passed away.
Ben Breedlove became famous after he shot a pair of YouTube videos that went viral. In the videos, Breedlove silently held up cards explaining that he lived with a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Breedlove said he had "cheated death" three times and during the third time, after his heart actually stopped, he had a vision of being in a white room wearing a white suit with his favorite rapper, Kid Cudi.
Sadly, Breedlove died from a heart attack on Christmas Day 2011. Cudi heard about the videos and vented on his blog saying, "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove. I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down... because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I can't describe. This is why I do what I do." In December 2012, Cudi dedicated Indicud to Breedlove.
He claims he went to most of his label meetings high.
The reason? "I knew I was going to be sitting in that office listening to shit I didn't want to hear." But we've got a feeling the suits behind the desk didn't really take offense. Nor should they—Cudi used to claim he was stoned 99% of the time.
Due to his night terrors after his father died, he slept with his mother until he was 12.
Cudi is a self-described "momma's boy" and he stayed close to his moms after losing his father at a young age. To make matters worse, Cudi says his mother didn't even own a bed until he was 15—she used to sleep on the couch.
Around the time of the original Man on the Moon he lived on a street in Tribeca he dubbed "DeBroski Street."
But don't try to go stalking Cudi in Tribeca. The name is just an inside joke with Plain Pat and Emile. And anyway he hasn't lived there for years. Since then Cudi has moved to L.A., first to the Hollywood Hills and later to Los Feliz.
His uncle Kalil Madi was an accomplished jazz drummer.
We learned this little fun fact when Cudi was interviewed by the always well-researched Nardwuar. Cudi also pointed out how his uncle was cool with the Rat Pack during his interview with Nardwuar. You can hear Cudder shout his uncle out on "Mojo So Dope."
He used to eat four to five cheeseburger meals a week.
He said that was just a rough estimate—and on occasion he might eat as many as eight. But he added that he was trying to cut back so he could lose weight. Seriously, how is this guy still so thin?
He claimed he spent all his money from his Vitamin Water endorsement on drugs and landscaping for his mom's house.
In 2010, Vitamin Water used the Steve Aoki remix of "Pursuit of Happiness" for their "Strong Man" ad. You can bet those checks were mighty healthy, but apparently Cudi blew all the money on drugs—and his mom's garden. Later, on "Don't Play This Song" he rhymed, "That Vitamin Water/That's money to blow/Cause it's money for blow."
He tried to play the trumpet, the clarinet, violin, as a child but "failed miserably."
Cudi attributed his failure to having to play off sheet music as opposed to playing by ear. At least he knows how to play the drum machine.
Cudi once stopped by The Hundreds store and purchased a $2,000 gift card and then let everyone in the store get whatever they wanted.
Cudder knows the grind. Back when he first moved to New York, he loved the clothing made by brands like BAPE but couldn't afford to buy their expensive products (though he eventually started working there). While shopping on Fairfax in L.A. last year, Cudi was inspired to buy clothing for everyone in the store. Damn, why weren't we around that day?
Man On The Moon II was originally going to end with "All Along."
After feeling like he was done recording his second album, Cudi went back to the lab and created "Ghost," "Trapped In My Mind," and "Don't Play This Song." He later told Complex, "I don’t think I would have been as proud of the album if I'd ended it with 'All Along.' That’s such a sad ending."
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He loves the movie Walk Hard and uses it to chart his career trajectory.
Cudi has taken inspiration from films for a while now. As previously mentioned, he thought about majoring in film in college before dropping out. Plus, while working on 808s & Heartbreak with Kanye in Hawaii, Yeezy would keep films like Close Encounters With The Third KindandE.T.silently playing on loop as inspiration.
Andy Kaufman partly inspired the title Man On The Moon.
There's actually a bit of history behind the "Man on the Moon." It was first used as the title of a 1992 song by R.E.M. dedicated to the memory of Andy Kaufman. Years later, when Jim Carey played Kaufman in a 1999 biopic, the film was titled after the song.
