Kid Cudi doesn’t consider Kanye West a friend. He considers him a brother.
Just days after releasing his INSANO album, the Cleveland-born rapper sat down with Zane Lowe of Apple Music to discuss various topics, including his rollercoaster relationship with Ye and the apology that helped mend their relationship. The two have been associated one another since 2008, when Kanye signed the then up-and-comer to his G.O.O.D. Music imprint. They would go on to collaborate on a number of records and even released a collaborative project, Kids See Ghosts, in 2018.
However, their relationship took an unfortunate turn several years ago, as Kanye faced mounting backlash over his erratic behavior, including a series of unhinged rants about his friends and family. Kanye eventually took aim at Cudi and accused him of being disloyal, as the Man on the Moon artist had maintained a friendship with Pete Davidson, the then boyfriend of Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.
Cudi compared his and Ye’s bond to that of brothers, explaining that fights and reconciliation were inevitable. (The two publicly squashed their beef in 2023.)
“Siblings hurt you the most. So you go through things, but family is always there,” he said about his connection to Kanye. “You don’t give up on family. And I think in the thick of it, when it was going down, I wanted to walk away. I wanted to give up, but in thinking about it the past couple years, it’s like this is someone who is my brother ultimately who came into my life and championed me and did things for me that nobody else did for me early on in my career.”
Kanye was apparently so confident in Cudi’s potential that he covered the cost of the first “Day ‘n’ Nite” video. The song, which was billed as Cudi’s debut commercial single, had been recorded in 2007, before he had inked a deal.
“[Kanye] got So Me to shoot it,” Cudder said about the visual. “So Me, the first director, didn’t know me, but was just doing a favor.”
While Cudi admitted he and Kanye have disagreements, he made it clear that there was no bad blood between them. He went on to describe Kanye as “a good man” with a soul, which is why he refuses to give up on him.
“He’s learning and he’s growing,” Cudi continued. “He knows he made some mistakes and I think that that’s the beauty of it, is this is a beautiful thing. It’s like he knows he’s been on one hell of a ride and he knows he’s said some things that he might not be able to come back from in a lot of realms, in a lot of spaces from certain people. But we grow and I think I pray for him, and that’s my brother.”
Kanye and Cudi reunited last month during a listening session for Vultures, the former’s highly anticipated joint project with Ty Dolla Sign. Kanye continued to show love for Cudi via Instagram last week, when he promoted the “ElectroWaveBaby” cut off Cudi’s newly released INSANO album.
“The reason why we became cool again is because he apologized to me and it was sincere. I was just like, wow,” Cudi said. “Kanye does not apologize to anybody and say sorry to anyone. And that’s my brother, man. various and there’s just nothing like Kanye and Cudi. We like the duo that everybody loves to see.”
Watch Zane Lowe's interview with Cudi in its entirety below.
