[HOST] Kid Cudi’s lauded September 15th, 2009 debut album, “Man on The Moon: The
End of Day,” set the stage for an entire generation to find comfort in his music.
TRAVIS SCOTT: Kid Cudi is like, really one of the main dudes that I looked at and listened
too all the time.
He saved my life.
[HOST] But the story really begins with his breakthrough hit, “Day ‘N’ Nite.”
[CUDI] In that timeframe it’s me speaking about what I was going through at that point
and time.
It was a very, very, very dark gloomy shadow over my life at that point and time.
[HOST] The song led to a debut mixtape called “A Kid Named Cudi” in 2008 that piqued
the interest of his idol and scored a Billboard Hot 100 top 5 hit.
[HOST] "Day 'N' Nite" was also sequenced at the center of "The End of Day," making it
a crucial part of Cudder's wider story.
CUDI: The whole album is like a dream.
One long dream sequence.
[HOST] Chicago legend and Cudi's then-GOOD Music label mate Common set the scene.
[HOST] The public had a glimpse of this brooding sound through Cudi’s formative and inspirational
work on West’s 2008 album,‘808s and Heartbreak,’ where Cudi’s work on four songs, chief amongst
them “Welcome to Heartbreak,” previewed the moody sound of “End of Day.”
CUDI: Big homie Kanye got me signed to Good Music now.
I got the feature of the album, I co-wrote several songs on '808 And Heartbreak.'
[HOST] This style of forlorn introspection struck a chord, becoming one of Yeezy’s
most influential projects.
Ye once said of his pairing with Cudi quote.
“Me and Cudi are the originators of the style, kinda like what Alexander McQueen is
to fashion...Everything else is just Zara and H&M.”
But Cudder did not want his relationship with Yeezy to define him.
CUDI: I could’ve had Kanye more involved on my album I could’ve had him on more songs.
But, it wasn’t about that.
It was about me telling my story and me getting my sound out there.
[HOST] On ‘Man On The Moon: ‘The End of Day,’ Cudi doubled down on his own wave
- enlisting beats from a small group of producers such as Emile Haynie, Jeff Bhasker, Plain
Pat, Ratatat and a few others.
CUDI: It’s important as a new artist to establish your own sound.
Because you don’t ever get that chance again.
[HOST] Cudi gleaned the scale and scope he was going for from 60s & 70s English progressive
rock bands.
CUDI: Pink Floyd and Electric Light Orchestra really ultimately determined the soundscapes
for my entire career.
[HOST] For his debut studio album, Cudi’s ‘The End Of Day’ tells a dream over 5 acts
to introduce his persona to the world.
CUDI: The lonely stoner is me...
I am you and you are me.
[HOST] On the album he sought to bring out parts of himself - teeing it off with the
Emile Haynie produced, “Soundtrack 2 My Life.”
Kid Cudi saw the duality of his music - both as self treatment and an escape for others.
CUDI: I’m trying to better myself through my music.
My music is like, really therapeutic for me...hopefully it’ll help everybody else that’s been
fucking with it.
[HOST] But he also acknowledged his contradictions - like on “Solo Dolo.”
On “Heart of A Lion” there is hope and triumph, drawing on inspiration from his mother
Elsie, who once texted him quote “Those who bring sunshine into the lives
of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
CUDI: I wanted to create the new Eye of the Tiger for the millenium.
And calling it “Heart of a Lion” is just the epitome of what Kid Cudi’s whole movement
is and what got me to where I'm at.
I kept the faith and I had a strong heart and I made it through.
[HOST]‘The End of Day,’ further dove into the effect of losing his father very young,
like on “My World” which contained one of his first trademark hums...
CUDI: My father died when I was 11.
I took it really hard, I think that’s where my immediately took a right turn.
I put myself in more of a shell.
[HOST] He also talks about the substances he sometimes used to crack that shell.
CUDI: Taking a trip is me getting ready to indulge in drugs and take that and zone out
to get away from reality.
[HOST]Like on "Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part I)."
However in 2016, some of those same escapes forced him into rehab.
On “Stuck,” with “Cudi Zone,” he gives a glimpse of what security *could* feel like.
CUDI: It’s kinda like talking about that moment when you’re at peace, stoned in your
place and everything is perfect and it’s beyond words and you just feel like ‘ooo.’
[HOST] But it’s in “Pursuit of Happiness” where the album crests; something producer
E*vax believes helped cement the legend of The WZRD.
[EVAX] Cudi’s become this real mythical character for people of a certain age because
he was speaking frankly on his tracks in a way that nobody was used to hearing rappers speak.
[HOST]But both albums *and* dreams must end and Cudi does this by waking up for a stretch
on “Up Up & Away.”
CUDI: I go to sleep broke and I wake up, successful.
Kid Cudi. It's really intense.
[HOST]However, Common sends Scott away with a word of caution.
[HOST]“Man on The Moon: The End of Day” was a commercial success.
It had three Billboard Hot 100 hits in “Day ‘N’ Nite,” “Make Her Say” and “Pursuit
of Happiness” and has sold north of 2 million records to date.
It also helped establish Cudi as a beacon of hope and growth.
CUDI: Music is a platform for me to express myself and realize that I am not that crazy.
That there’s other kids out there that might be depressed or lonely, dealing with suicide,
things like this.
[HOST] And ‘Day ‘N’ Nite producer Dot da Genius told us that that was Cudi's goal from the
very beginning.
DOT: That's Cudi's mission. That’s always been Cudi’s mission.
It’s like yo, I wanna talk to these kids.
I want to make sure to let them know that they not alone.
[HOST] And in the decade since it’s release, “The End of Day’”s impact stretches
across the rap - from Travis Scott using T.I., like Common, as a narrator for “Rodeo...”
To Logic finding confidence through Cudi’s ethos...
LOGIC: And Cudi was one of the person who showed me like...you don’t have to be scared
to sing!
Like who gives a fuck.
[HOST] It’s fair to say that Kid Cudi helped shape an entire generation by sharing his
personal struggles so that we would know how to walk our own paths.
I’m Jacques Morel with Genius News, bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the
music. Peace!