Are Kanye West & Kid Cudi Really Beefing Over Drake? (Video)
In the last decade, Kid Cudi was one of G.O.O.D. Music’s breakout success stories. The Cleveland, Ohio MC/singer made his debut on Kanye West’s 2008 808’s & Heartbreak album, before making way for his gold-certified Man On The Moon: The End Of Day first album (released seven years ago, yesterday). Cudi would release two more albums with G.O.O.D. Music (one of those also went gold) before remaining solely at Universal Republic Records (his longtime distributor). Although Cudi and West’s official business together appeared to end in the late 2000s, the pair have worked together on many contemporary releases. Earlier this year, West’s “Father Stretch My Hands” gold single featured Cudi.
That sentiment and working relationship now appears to be compromised. Yesterday (September 14), Kid Cudi called out his mentor in a series of tweets. Those tweets, screen-captured below (courtesy of HipHopDX) climaxed with Scott Mescudi’s claim, “My tweets apply to who they apply. Ye, Drake, whoever. These niggas don’t give a fuck about me. And they ain’t fuckin’ with me.” Earlier in the series of statements, the MC who has worked on albums by Big Boi and T.I. declared, “I am the culture.”
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It took less than 24 hours to elicit responses from Kanye West, as well as Drake—who popularized a sing-rap style in 2008 and 2009 parallel to Cudi. Performing on his Saint Pablo Tour in Tampa, Florida, Kanye used an interlude to “Don’t Like” to address the latest gripe.
“Kid Cudi, don’t ever mention [my] name. I birthed you! We all dealing with that emo shit all the time. Me, [Plain] Pat, Don C. Don’t never mention ‘Ye name!” The G.O.O.D. founder alleges that Cudi’s frustration is over a collaborative relationship between West and Drake. “You mad ‘cause I’m doing songs with Drake??!! Can’t nobody tell Ye who to do songs with,” West screamed. Kanye and Drake have worked together since So Far Gone, which predates M.O.T.M. “Do you know how many people wish they could be signed to G.O.O.D. Music, get their life changed, have an opportunity?,” beckoned West, whose roster now includes Pusha T, Big Sean, CyHi The Prynce, Teyana Taylor, and Desiigner. “I’m so hurt. I feel so disrespected. Kid Cudi, we two Black men in a racist world. I wore skinny jeans first. I got called names before you, bruh,” West touted.
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Drake also used the touring stage to address Kid Cudi. Performing in Oakland, California the OVO leader spoke to his Universal label-mate. “Boy, you getting way too high, you need to Cud-it.” He added, “I heard boys were talking down today. Shout out to my brother Kanye West. We both got sold-out shows.” Drake and Cudi had been photographed together early in their careers.
#drake responds to #kidcudi “boy u getting way too high .. U need to CUDD IT”
A video posted by DJ Akademiks (@akademikstv) on
Drake’s poke at addiction is a deep one. Several years ago, Cudi admitted his battles with drugs, alcoholism, and cigarettes in a video interview with Headkrack.
“I wasn’t a drug addict before this crap, I wasn’t doing cocaine, I wasn’t getting wasted every night because I didn’t want to be alone. I wasn’t this dark person before the madness, I was a whole other dude. I don’t even think I smoked weed as much ‘cause we couldn’t afford it… You just have to make the choice and decide the person you wanna be and stick with it. You get to a certain age where the people around you are not gonna be on that rollercoaster all day long ready for you to go up, ready for you to go down, and stick with you through all the madness. People want you to be one person and stick with it and I chose to be clean and be sober and get my life together. For myself, for my health, for my daughter, for my family.”
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Previously, Cudi has had social media conflicts with Wale and Lupe Fiasco. Those incidents were said to be resolved later.
The Cleveland artist is also not the first G.O.O.D. Music artist to have problems with the label. Consequence, one of the first artists signed to the label, would engage in a 2011 conflict with newly-inked Pusha T. The Clipse co-founder has since been made president of the imprint. While Cons is no longer an artist on the label, he has stayed involved on projects since. Common and GLC are two other acts who have since moved on from the label West launched in the mid-2000s.
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Kid Cudi last released Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven in December of last year. The Universal Republic release included involvement from Plain Pat, the producer and executive West mentioned in his reply—who is part of the G.O.O.D. family.
After “Welcome To Heartbreak,” “Erase Me,” “Gorgeous,” and a host of other collaborative songs between Kanye and Kid, this may mark the end for some time.