Kid Cudi, Big Boi, et A-Trak

Cudi is known for his autobiographical lyrics. His songs are often 3 his childhood hardships, depression, isolation, and struggles with substance abuse. The themes of spirituality, heartbreak, and celebration permeate his music. His live performances are widely recognized as being an incredibly energized take on a hip-hop and rock show combined with a positive outlook and party atmosphere.

Cudi has sold over 22 million records in the U.S. He has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and won. He has often been cited as an influence on a number of contemporary hip-hop and alternative acts. Cudi has collaborated with several prominent artists across many different genres, including Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, David Guetta, Shakira, MGMT, Mary J. Blige, Michael Bolton, and Steve Aoki.

Cudi has worked extensively with the Brooklyn-based record label, Fool’s Gold, responsible for the likes of A Track, Lil B, and Danny Brown. He also launched his own record label, Wicked Awesome Records, in 2011.

Born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, Kid Cudi grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the youngest of four children. His father died when he was only 11 years old, and his passing profoundly impacted Cudi’s songwriting and musical style.

Kid Cudi adopted his stage name at the dawn of his career, which began after he moved to New York in 2005 with $500, a demo tape, and dreams of becoming a rapper. He released his first single, “Day ‘n’ Nite,” on his MySpace page in 2007. It gained traction across a number of music blogs and eventually got the attention of Cudi’s future mentor, Kanye West. With the support of West, Cudi released his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, in July 2008.

Around the same time, the Italian electronic duo Crookers released a prominent remix of “Day ‘n’ Nite.” This created a huge amount of online buzz for Kid Cudi and provided a solid fan base from which to launch his debut conceptual album, “Man on the Moon: The End of Day” toward the end of 2009. Popular tracks from the album included “Make Her Say” and “Pursuit of Happiness,” the latter of which received an acclaimed cover by rocker Lissie.

A year after the release of his first album, Cudi released a sequel, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager. Although this album did not reach the same success as his first, Cudi’s second work was still well-received. It was certified gold by the RIAA and reached number three on the Billboard charts.

In 2010 Kid Cudi joined forces with Dot da Genius and taught himself to play guitar to form the rock-rap band WZRD. The band released its music on Dot’s own label, Dream On Records. However, due to creative differences Dream On was dissolved and instead WZRD’s material was released on Cudi’s own label, Wicked Awesome, in 2012. Cudi followed up in 2013 with his third solo album, Indicud, which featured HAIM, A$AP Rocky, and Father John Misty, the former drummer from Fleet Foxes.

Cudi released his third solo album, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon, in February 2014. Released with little promotion, it flew under the radar in comparison to Cudi’s earlier success.

In 2015, Cudi officially released the song “Love,” which samples “Sunblocks” by Ratatat. A new album release was announced later that year, and the lead song, “Confused!” was released soon after. Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven dropped in December 2015. Two additional songs were subsequently released from the album: “Judgemental Cunt” and “Wedding Tux.”

Cudi initially announced a new tour, dubbed the Especial Tour, but it was canceled later that year due to production problems and unspecified personal issues. As a consolation for his fans, Cudi released the title track from the album as another single.

In March 2016, Kid Cudi headlined the McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly after, he announced a new album would be coming soon. Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ was officially released that December. The album was a commercial success and featured guest vocals by Travis Scott, Pharrell Williams, and André 3000. Cudi performed his song “Kitchen” live with a string orchestra on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote the album’s release, and launched a U.S. concert tour promoting the album.

In 2018, Cudi and Kanye West partnered to create the group Kids See Ghosts. Together, they produced a self-titled album, released in June 2018.

In 2020, Cudi announced a single with Eminem titled “The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady.” The song was highly successful, debuting in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Cudi also released a teaser video of his forthcoming album, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen, the last installment in the Man on the Moon series.

Man on the Moon III: The Chosen received critical acclaim. Cudi’s songwriting skills, in particular, were highly praised. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart.

On December 3, 2021, he collaborated with singer Ariana Grande on the song “Just Look Up” to promote the Netflix comedy Don’t Look Up. Cudi headlined the Rolling Loud Music Festival in the same year. During a performance, he revealed his intention to release two new albums in 2022.

The first of the two albums, The Boy Who Flew to the Moon, Vol. 1, was a compilation album which featured a re-release of “A Kid Named Cudi,” as well as the previously-unreleased “Love.”

Cudi’s second album of 2022 was the long-awaited Entergalactic, which appeared alongside an animated Netflix special of the same name. Entergalactic dropped on September 30, 2022, to much fan anticipation. The album was a commercial and critical success, debuting at number 13 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart.

Cudi is currently touring overseas. For those wishing to catch the next Kid Cudi tour, keep an eye on his official website for any new tour dates.

In addition to his musical career, Kid Cudi has dabbled in many other ventures. He has partnered with several clothing brands and designers, including BAPE, Surface to Air, Giuseppe Zanotti, A.P.C., Adidas, Virgil Abloh, Cactus Plant Flea Market, and Off-White. Through these collaborations, Cudi has had a hand in designing and creating tons of clothing, sneakers, and fashion accessories.

Hailing from Montréal, Canada and of Moroccan and Russian descent, Macklovitch’s musical introduction was playing with his father’s record player at age 13, before purchasing equipment of his own and teaching himself how to scratch. Macklovitch helped formed the rap group Obscure Disorder in 1995 with his older brother David Macklovitch (who formed one half of the synth pop duo Chromeo) promoting Canadian rap to a wider audience. The Macklovitch brothers also established their own label named Audio Research, on which they released Obscure Disorder’s debut single “Lyrically Exposed” in 1997.

The Year also marked the start of A-Trak’s burgeoning rap battling career that would see the DJ rise to previously unseen heights at such a young age. Starting with a win at the DMC World Championship in Italy, and onto victories at the ITF, Vestax World Extravaganza and DMC Team World Championships in both 1999 and 2000. Macklovitch was the youngest ever DJ to win three world championships, as well as the youngest to win five.

At the tender age of 18 A-Trak retired from DJ battling and the 2000s saw Macklovitch focus on his own music; founding the DJ collective the Allies and working with artists such as Non Phixion and Peanut Butter Wolf. A-Trak’s next big break was when he played at a London record store and met Kanye West. Kanye then enlisted Macklovitch’s help on his North American tour and subsequently the albums “Late Registration” and “Graduation” and a number of mixtapes, snowballing the DJ's career to the mainstream and promoting the relevance of talented turntablists.

Since then A-Trak has had the creative freedom to pursue his own interests; releasing his 2007 “Dirty South Dance,” a rap and electronic remix album; producing for Lupe Fiasco and Kid Sister; releasing his own entry in the Fabriclive series; collaborating with Armand Van Helden on the disco house project Duck Sauce; working alongside Kimbra and Mark Foster for the song “Warrior”. A-Trak unsurprisingly is able to find steady work collaborating with some of the biggest names in popular culture and hip-hop including Drake and Kid Cudi, and seems set for even greater heights.