For the latest iteration of their regular Beats 1 radio show OTHERtone on Apple Music, Pharrell and Scott Vener sit down with none other than Kid Cudi. Over the extended chat, the three men talk about Cudi's life, his career, and all the pressures that come along with that.
In an especially jarring moment, Kudi reveals that the weight of expectation while working as one of the most prominent members of Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label is what caused him to turn to drugs. “I was like, man, I’m either going to kill myself or I’m going to do some drugs," Cudi said.
"And I want to live, so…” he continued. “I didn’t like that I had money and success and I had made it and everybody that I had ever met in my life—good people—weren’t able to experience the same. And I wasn’t able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had so much and my friends didn’t. It was hard for me to enjoy it. Truthfully, it didn’t seem fair.”
He also revealed about how the beat and hook to Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak opener "Welcome to Heartbreak" was originally slotted for Jay Z's The Blueprint 3. "We were like, ‘Oh, it’s for Jay, let’s talk about that dope boy shit, let’s make a theme for that dope boy in the kitchen,” Cudi said. Eventually, Kanye decided to keep the beat for himself, as well as "Heartless" and threw them onto his own album.
You can catch Cudi's chat with Pharrell and Vener on OTHERtone here.
