Kid Cudi
Real Name: Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi
D.O.B.: January 30, 1984 Shaker heights, Chicago IL
Label: Dream On/G.O.O.D. Music/Motown-Universal
Kid Cudi is a Chi-Town rap fan-turned rapper now aligned with fellow Chi-Towners Kanye West, Common for G.O.O.D. Music recording label. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single “Day ‘n’ Nite” reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. “Day ‘n’ Nite” is part of Cudi’s debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day.
Kid Cudi was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in the diverse suburb of Shaker Heights. His father, a house painter, substitute teacher and World War II Air Force veteran, was of Mexican-Native American ancestry while his mother, a middle-school choir teacher, was of African-American ancestry. Mescudi’s father passed away from cancer when he was 11 years-old; his death would have a significant effect on his personality and subsequently his music. Music Career Mescudi attended Roxboro Middle School and Shaker Heights High School for two years before transferring to Solon High School. It was towards the end of high school that Mescudi first began rapping, inspired by alternative hip hop groups such as The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. After earning his GED, he studied film at the University of Toledo, then dropped out after his freshman year. He moved to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 20 to pursue a music career.
While there, he worked at the New York Bape and released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, in collaboration with New York street-wear brand 10.Deep as a free download. The mixtape quickly caught the attention of Kanye West, which in turn spawned his signing to GOOD Music later that year. Kid Cudi was featured on Kanye West’s 2008 album, 808s & Heartbreak, singing with West on the track “Welcome to Heartbreak”, and helping with songwriting on “Heartless” and “Paranoid”. “Welcome to Heartbreak” peaked at #87 on the Pop 100, and music videos for both songs have been released. He was then featured many medias such as XXL and BBC News’s Sound of 2009 poll of up-and-coming acts. MTV News also reported on Cudi on a series of reports MCs To Watch In 2009.
Television Appearances
His first television appearance was at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, alongside Travis Barker and DJ AM. On February 17, 2009, he appeared on Snoop Dogg’s MTV talk show Dogg After Dark performing “Day ‘n’ Nite” at the end of the show. Two days later on February 19, 2009, Cudi appeared on BET’s 106 & Park with Kanye West to debut the video of “Day ‘n’ Nite” . On March 16, 2009 Kid Cudi performed on mtvU’s Spring Break special, and the next day he performed three songs on NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly. He has also appeared as a musical guest on The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kid Cudi also made a cameo appearance next to Solange in the video for the song “T.O.N.Y.” in February 2009, and later in the Black Eyed Peas’ video for “I Gotta Feeling”, with David Guetta. He has also been on two magazine covers, Complex Magazine (August/September 2009) and URB Magazine (August 2009). Bape awarded Cudi his own t-shirt in September 2009, in reward for his music and past employment their when living in New York City.
Kid Cudi announced that he will have a lead role in the upcoming comedy series called “How to Make it in America”, produced by Mark Wahlberg.
First Album
Cudi’s debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day was released on Universal Motown Records on September 15, 2009 and sold 104,419 copies in the first week and charted at #4. The album’s first single was Day ‘N’ Nite, and is Kid Cudi’s greatest commercial success thus far, the song charting well both in the USA and in Europe. The next single was “Make Her Say” (originally titled “I Poke Her Face”), which features a sample from Lady Gaga’s song “Poker Face” and performances by Kanye West and Common. Cudi revealed on his web blog, in regards to making his sophomore album which is slated for release after the collaboration with Chip Tha Ripper and will be followed with a collaboration project with electrorock duo Ratatat Cudi joined rapper Asher Roth for the Great Hangover concert tour during the summer of 2009. Kid Cudi featured on the highly anticipated Jay-Z album The Blueprint 3, on the song “Already Home”. On Myspace “Music Feed”, Kid Cudi has confirmed that he is already starting on a new album.
Discography:
Studio
2009 Man on the Moon: The End of Day
2010 Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager
Mixtapes
2008 A Kid Named Cudi
