via Amazon/Complex Networks
Kid Cudi is one of the most influential artists of the last decade, and though many of his fans know some of his story, they haven’t quite heard it like this before. Today, A Man Name Scott, a documentary chronicling Cudi’s career-spanning journey, was released on Amazon Prime. The film was directed by Robert Alexander and produced by Complex Networks and Film 45.
Through intimate interviews with Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Shia LaBeouf, ASAP Rocky, Jaden and Willow Smith, and many more, A Man Named Scott takes fans behind the scenes of Cudi’s biggest hits, albums, and inner thoughts. Though the documentary was inspired by Alexander’s personal interest in the rapper and his effect on pop culture, the director says that Cudi played a collaborative role in making the documentary.
“It was a very kind collaboration,” he explains in a press release. “There were some things he felt were important to touch on and certain people he wanted to have a significant presence in the film. But he had a lot of trust in me and he was incredibly respectful in allowing me to make this film the way I felt was best.”
The hour and a half documentary film is now available to watch on Amazon Prime. Check out some of the most interesting things we learned from A Man Named Scott below.
Kanye's explains why Cudi is so important to music and culture
Kanye West and Kid Cudi have a very close relationship that dates back over a decade. In A Man Named Scott, Ye makes a cameo and recalls the first time he heard Kid Cudi’s music. “It felt really new,” he says. “The combination of him putting the melody with the rap in a way that I hadn’t really heard since Bone Thugs.” Kanye also explains why Cudi is so important to music and culture, saying, “Cudi just does what he feels.” He goes on to say, “Cudi’s music connects with people, and it’s healing. It’s not just for the sake of, here’s the rap music that you play while alcohol is being poured, while DMs are being sent…It’s not part of that game of popularity. And it was always an alternative thing that became popular. We all don’t have to do the exact same thing.”
Cudi originally wanted to sing “Day N Nite” differently
One of Kid Cudi’s most iconic singles, “Day N Nite” was created in only two days in producer Dot Da Genius’ childhood home. In the doc, both Cudi and Dot talk about working on the track together. Dot was working a security job and Cudi was in between gigs at the time. After they perfected the beat, Cudi says he originally wanted to “really sing it” and stretch out the vocals, but Dot eventually stepped in and suggested, “Maybe you shouldn’t try to sing it. Maybe you should just say it, in a melodic way.” Dot adds, “We pretty much made the beat, recorded it the next day, uploaded it to Myspace, and that was it.” At the time of recording the track, Cudi stated that he “wasn’t thinking about trying to make an album. I just wanted to make one good song, perfect that, and then from there, we’ll figure everything out.”
Cudi quit his last “regular” job to go on tour in 2008 without a plan for money after
In 2008, Kid Cudi’s career was taking off, thanks to the success of “Day N Nite.” Though he was building momentum, he was still working a regular day job at streetwear brand BAPE. But when the job denied his request to take off three weeks to tour Australia, Cudi made the bold decision to quit and pursue his passion full-time. So he went to Australia without a plan or money for the future. He would later refer to this decision as a very “big moment.”
Cudi talks about why Kanye didn’t have an even larger role on ‘MOTM: The End of Day’
Coming off Kanye’s co-sign and their collaborations on 808s & Heartbreak, Cudi contemplated having Kanye contribute very heavily to his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day. After he got started working on the project, however, he realized that he could do it alone. “Going in, I had this idea, like, yeah, Kanye’s going to be involved, and all this and all that,” he says. “But when it got to it and I got the deal done, and I was working on these songs with Pat and Emile and Dot, I was really like, I’m creating a sound here, I trust my vision, and I might not need Kanye like that. I kind of put that noise out of my mind and focused on the art and my story and what I was trying to tell.” Kanye did still end up contributing to the album in a more minor role, of course, earning production credits on “Sky Might Fall” and “Make Her Say,” as well as vocals on “Make Her Say.”
Cudi was a little worried what his family would think of some lyrics on 'MOTM'
Though Cudi was confident in the final cut of Man on the Moon: The End of Day, he admitted that he was nervous what his family and inner circle might think of some of the content. He references a line where he says, “I’m probably this close to going and trying some coke,” and goes on to say, “I was a little worried about what my mom may think, and my family and friends, but ultimately it was about being honest and being a true artist.” At the end of the day, Cudi knew he had to release a project that was “tailor made to Scott.” He says the album was meant to be a call to other like minded-individuals, “the broken and the lost.”
His label wanted “another ‘Day N Nite’” or a catchy radio song on ‘MOTM,’ but Cudi pushed back
Cudi’s confidence came in handy when he was discussing the next single off the album. His label at the time was looking for another huge hit like “Day N Nite” that would work for the radio. Cudi’s close associate Plain Pat remembers, “We had basically the album [finished], and the label was like, ‘You need another ‘Day N Nite.’ And they were pushing us to make a radio song or make something catchy, but Cudi wasn’t trying to hear none of that.” Instead, Cudi pushed for “Pursuit of Happiness” to be the single, and his instincts were right. Cudi’s talent combined with his self-confidence ultimately influenced the success of MOTM.
Cudi has never been worried about radio and sales
Kid Cudi was never concerned with making radio hits, despite requests from labels. “Man, I’m Kid Cudi. We don’t think about that,” he says. “I be having to remind cats, ‘Yo we exist on a whole other plane. I didn’t get on through radio. I got on, on the internet. I was working with Kanye West, Jay-Z without radio play.” While he says radio placement is cool, he “can’t busy myself thinking about the radio.”
Cudi says he “found it hard to be happy,” even after accomplishing his dreams
After reaching a new peak in his career, Cudi struggled to stay happy. “I just really found it hard to be happy,” he explains. “I’m like, ‘okay, I’m successful. I accomplished what I came to New York City to accomplish, but I was miserable, man. I just couldn’t help but feel like Richie Rich or somebody…” There were some nights that Cudi would try to escape reality by running away from the clubs and trying to escape the watch of his security guards. “It would be some nights when I’d be at the club and I’d just run out the club and run for blocks,” he says.
Other times, he would experience extreme anxiety while performing on stage. “When I would do shows, I didn’t feel anything,” he says. “I think I was scared and intimidated by the stage.” Cudi admits that he had “a hard time dealing with the adjustments from being Scott to being Kid Cudi.” Interviews were also a challenge for him. He remembers times in which an interviewer would ask about intimate details of his life that he hadn’t even begun to explore on his own. “For some reason… and this is the truth, I never thought that being so honest would, in turn, have people wanting to ask me so many personal questions,” he says. “These are questions that I’ve never been asked before. This is like stuff I’ve never even thought about. When my father died, I camouflaged all my feelings. I tucked that shit away. I pretended like that shit didn’t even happen.” As a result of the pressure, he sometimes turned to cocaine to help him get through interviews.
He opens up about cocaine giving him “confidence to step out of the house” and “to be normal”
Not only did Cudi turn to cocaine to help him get through interviews, but he also says he used it to escape reality and be able to complete daily functions, like leaving the house. “I would never leave my house,” he remembers. “I wouldn’t go out and do anything. But when I did cocaine, I could be out in the street. I’d be the mayor. I would be running out in the street, people would be seeing me signing autographs and taking pictures. It gave me confidence to step out of the house, to be normal.’” In 2010, Kid Cudi’s drug abuse took a turn for the worse. He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance following an altercation in New York. Cudi attributes his arrest to helping him shake the habit.
Cudi and Shia LaBeouf once tried pitching a cartoon about Cudi's childhood to Adult Swim
Kid Cudi and Shia LaBeouf have an interesting friendship. In the documentary, Shia details the ups and downs of their relationship, revealing there were times that they disagreed on things and other times where they genuinely had fun creating magic together. In one of the clips, both Shia and Cudi talk about plans they had to make a cartoon series for Adult Swim that would depict Cudi’s childhood. Unfortunately, their pitch meeting with Adult Swim didn’t go as planned, and there were some communication issues. Shia later admitted that he should’ve spoken with Cudi more about what was in the script because it was so personal and included details that Cudi might not have been ready to share.
ASAP Rocky’s favorite Kid Cudi album is ‘Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven’
ASAP Rocky has always been a big Kid Cudi fan, and he says that his favorite album of Cudi’s is Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. This revelation comes to light right after Rocky points out, “Sometimes you make your dopest shit in the darkest place.”
Cudi says he was in his darkest place while making ‘Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven’
Cudi had experienced some challenging times early on in his career, but he says his darkest time came while making Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. Cudi has a noticeably challenging time talking about the album, saying he doesn’t want to discuss any of the songs of the project. “I was the darkest—I was darker than Man on the Moon II,” he says of his state of mind at the time. “I felt like I was living the right way, but I still felt empty inside,” he remembers. “People look up to me, but I’m not a happy person. So a lot of the time, I felt like a fraud, and that’s what drove me to the dark side of what I was dealing with.”
He opens up about challenges in 2016 before checking into rehab
Towards the end of the documentary, Cudi gets really vulnerable as he talks about his mental health. He speaks about his elationships, drug abuse, and thoughts of suicide. At one point, Cudi says that he had gotten to the point that he was suicidal. “I had just started using again, not happy with myself that I allowed myself to go back to that after all these years,” he recalls of his life in 2016, before checking into rehab. “I was just really ashamed. I was suicidal and I was at a place where I was trying to plan it. And I knew that if I didn’t go get help, that something would have happened. Deep down, I wanted to be better. I didn’t want to give up and let people down. All would have been lost—everything that I worked hard for. I couldn’t leave my daughter, leave my mom, my sisters and my brothers. I just had to get my shit together.”
These days, Cudi says he has “no desire to make any more dark records”
After a stint in rehab in 2016, Cudi says he felt much better: “It brought me back into the light.” He also hopped back into the studio, where he began working on Kids See Ghosts with Kanye. Following the release of Kids See Ghosts, Cudi says he has “no desire to make any more dark records. I don’t want to put more of that out in the world. I hope people got it when I put it out when I did it, but that chapter is done.”
Cudi says “Kanye saved me from being depressed all over again about where I was at with the music” with ‘KSG'
In the documentary, Cudi thanks Kanye for asking him to make Kids See Ghosts with him following rehab. “I don’t know if I would have dropped an album any time soon,” he reveals. “I think I would have taken a couple years off. But then Kanye told me that he wanted to do this album. And I was like, ‘Well, shit, this is cool, because now I have somebody lifting me up and letting me know that I can do this shit.’ So Kanye doesn’t know that, but Kanye saved me from being depressed all over again about where I was at with the music, and he helped me see that, ‘No, no, I’m not done yet.’”
He’s in a better place now
Despite the many challenges Kid Cudi has gone through in his life and career, he says, “I hope fans can see that I’m finally in a better place.” Looking back at darker times in his career, he notes, “I wasn’t the best me I could be. We sometimes have that in our lives. And these are the things I touched on in rehab. I talked about how I could’ve done this way better. I could’ve been there. I could’ve understood. I could’ve not been afraid.” He says he’s learning how to pace himself and balance work with life better, adding, “I realized that a lot of what I was dealing with was because I was always working and I wasn’t giving myself the time to live my life [...] And I’ve come to terms with my bullshit. I face my bullshit [...] I know where I went wrong. There’s no confusion about it, so now I can talk about it. And knowing I’m in a better place with Scott, that I love myself, that I’m happy.” As far as his career goes, Cudi feels like he was a vessel that helped inspire other artists, and change the industry in the process. “Now it’s like, you can’t get a deal unless you sing and talk about your emotions,” he says. “We single-handedly infected the industry with that shit. In 2009, it sent a ripple effect through the industry… for a decade.”