In videos shared on his Instagram Stories, Kid Cudi responded to Jim Jones after he claimed that he’s responsible for his success because he remixed his breakthrough track, “Day n Nite.”
“I see something online that I have to address,” he said in the posts. “Jim Jones… First of all, we love Jim Jones. I grew up on Jimmy, he’s the homie, I met him when I was coming up, he was cool, right? Jimmy, I’m going to address you directly, my n***a. You talking about how you were responsible for my success, is a lie. You need to stop lying to people. You get on your little podcast, and you start gossiping and talking shit, and everybody on your podcast don’t know the truth, so they are agreeing with you. But if you look under the comments under that post, you’ll see people are letting you know what time it is.”
He said that this isn’t the first time that Jim Jones has made these claims, and it “breaks [his] heart” to see him doing it again.
"'Day n Nite' was already a hit record before you touched it, my n***a. I put it on my MySpace, it blew up, OK?" he said. "I had an entire mixtape. I was on my way. Motown was courting me. Kanye wanted to sign me—all because of ‘Day n Nite,’ because I put it on my MySpace and it blew up, my. It blew up. I can promise you that Sylvia Rhone did not listen to your remix and say she wanted to sign me. That is not why I have a record deal, bro. Nothing you’re talking about is the truth. How do you think I had a music video? I was shooting the music video. I was already on. You saw a hit record and jumped on it, my n***a."
He told Jones that he's "gotta stop telling these tales," and gave a shout-out to everyone pushing back on his claims. "It's crazy how people just be trying to, like, take credit for my success," he said. "And I like Jimmy, man, it kind of breaks my heart to hear him on here trying to take credit for something that he's not a part of. You jumped on my shit, I didn't ask you to do that. ... I was an international artist from jump, I had the world, my n***a."
His response comes not long after Jones, in an appearance on the NoRapCapPodcast, suggested that “no one” knew who Kid Cudi was before he dropped his remix of “Day n Nite.”
"That's how y'all know Kid Cudi," he said of the remix. "You wouldn't have never known Kid Cudi if I didn't remix the record in New York City. Nobody knew [who] Kid Cudi was."
He said that some video directors wanted to work on a music video for him, so he asked them to show him a video and they showed him the "Day n Nite" video. "They showed me this kid on top of a roof with a record called 'Day n Nite,' he worked in the store under the label," he continued. "I said, 'I like the record, I want to do a remix. If you give me the record, I'll let y'all shoot my video... I got the beat... and it became the biggest record in New York City. And that's how Kid Cudi became an artist."
He concluded by suggesting that Cudi got "a big deal of of Jim Jones' back."
There are three music videos for "Day n Nite," one from French director So Me, and another video for the Crookers remix. The third video was shot by director duo BBGUN, and was made before the two other videos but was released in 2009. The song picked up traction in 2007 after Cudi uploaded it to his MySpace page, which caught the attention of the artist formerly known as Kanye West, who signed him to GOOD Music that same year.
"Day n Nite" was officially released as a commercial single in February 2008 via GOOD Music, Fool's Gold, Universal Motown, and Data. Jim Jones' remix didn't arrive until October that same year. Jones made similar claims about the remix in 2022.