If you were to think of the words influential, savior, iconic, and idol, would a rapper be the first thing to come to mind? Well to millions of people around the world, those words exactly describe Kid Cudi. Born Scott Mescudi on January 30, 1984, in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the child of a choir teacher and a house painter. He grew up in Shaker Heights which is an inner-ring suburb of Cleveland. Growing up, Scott had three siblings, two older brothers Domingo and Dean, and an older sister Maria. His family was not particularly wealthy as he grew up in a lower-middle-class household, with his mom Elsie being a substitute teacher and his dad Lindberg not only being a house painter, but also a substitute teacher, and World War II Air Force veteran. 

As a child, his father was his biggest inspiration and was his hero; however, when Cudi was only 11 his father passed away due to cancer. This caused his mother to sacrifice everything and raise the 4 siblings by herself on a teacher’s salary. His mother was very supportive of whatever Scott was interested in, as she would get him comics when he wanted to draw, put him in the choir when she found him singing, and was supportive when he wanted to rap. The passing of his dad had a large impact on both Scott's personality and the music that would soon follow. A few years after this, he attended Shaker Heights High School for the first two years of high school and then transferred to Solon High School. Scott himself admits that he “wasn’t the best student” (“Hi I’m Scott”, 2015) and got expelled from Solon after he threatened to punch his principal in the face after an altercation. Cudi went on to get his GED and tried his luck with college by going to Toledo University to study filmography but subsequently dropped out after one year. 

In 2002-03 when he was 18 years old, he recorded a demo tape titled Rap Hard under the moniker Kid Mescudi, but this tape did not surface until around 2011 not by his own choice, but because someone else had a copy and released it. After he dropped out in 2005, he left Cleveland with nothing but $500 and a demo tape to his name and moved in with his uncle in New York. For the first few months in New York, Scott put his interest in music aside and spent time trying to find work and get off his feet.  Cudi would end up working at a number of clothing stores over the first few years of his time in New York. While at a record store looking at CDs that he could not afford, he saw a familiar face out of the corner of his eye, this face was rapper Kanye West. Cudi introduced himself to the artist and asked to be signed by him. Kanye rejected the offer; however, this would not be the last time that the two would run into each other. A little while later while Cudi was working at a BAPE store, Cudi forgot to take the security tag of some clothes Kanye bought so he ended up chasing him through SoHo to get it off. While working at Abercrombie & Fitch, he was introduced to an engineering student Dot Da Genius who made beats. Shortly after, his uncle kicked him out of his house, and with nowhere to go Scott was upset with his uncle and was ready to move back to Cleveland until Dot Da Genius allowed him to move in with him for however long he needed. His uncle passed away in 2006, and with the two's relationship never healing, Scott was devastated. The passing inspired Cudi to work even harder than he had been and to make it in the world. With the two musicians living in the same household, they were able to work together more than ever before and hone their sound. 

One night in 2007, overwhelmed with emotion and wanting to make something for his late uncle, Cudi sat down and started to make the hook to his hit song “Day N’ Nite”. The song was shown to Kanye and his manager Plain Pat by producer Emile Haynie. Kanye immediately fell in love with the song and signed Cudi to his label GOOD Music. Emile and Cudi started working together to work on his debut mixtape which would be released a short time later. Kanye flew Cudi out to Hawaii in order to help with Kanye's album 808s and Heartbreaks where he received writing credits and vocal credits on the album with West stating that “His writing is just so pure and natural and important.” In July 2008 Cudi finally finished and released his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi which featured some of his most iconic songs like “Day N’ Nite”, “The Prayer”, “Man on the Moon”, and more. The mixtape showcased Cudi’s versatility with some songs being upbeat and fun and others being more upsetting and sorrowful, and the songs showed him as more than a one-hit-wonder. With all of his new music coming out and collaborations with big artists like Kanye and Jay-Z, Cudi was finally starting to gain public recognition. He was on XXLs 2009 freshman list, which showcases upcoming rappers, and he also made an appearance at the VMAs along with being promoted by many other sources. 

After his mixtape, Cudi performed all over the world and made many appearances alongside fellow artists. He also made a few singles like “Memories” with David Guetta and made many guest appearances in other musicians' songs. On September 15, 2009, Cudi released his debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day which sold 104k copies and peaked at #4 on the charts. This album is made to be like a dream sequence with some tracks being titled as “nightmares”. The dream spans over 5 acts. The theme of the album is Cudi's rise to fame and what he envisioned in his brain and includes some heavy subjects which talk about the stuff the artist has had to go through. Cudi says that he could have had more songs from Kanye on the album which would probably help with sales; however, he wanted to tell his story and get his sound out there. After his first album received amazing feedback and success he started working on his work once again and worked nonstop. On November 9, 2010, Cudi released his second studio album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, with many of his best songs like “Mojo So Dope”, “Mr. Rager”, and more, which is a darker album than the previous Man on the Moon and focuses on his reality as opposed to his dreams. This album received a bit more recognition than the first one by peaking at #3 and selling 169,000 copies in its first week with it being considered as one of if not his best by many fans. In 2011 Cudi announced that he would be creating a rock group with him and Dot da Genius. This would stray away from his typical; roots in hip hop and allow him to experiment with different types of music. In February of 2012, the project would finally be released and did well for an artist straying out of his typical genre. Indicud was Cudi’s third studio album with the name being a play on the words of indica and Cudi. This album was not like the previous two albums Cudi released as it is more upbeat and has a more ecstatic sound. Cudi wanted Indicud to be like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic 2001 and he produced the whole album himself which also leads to a memorable tracklist. It was also around this time, that he had decided to leave GOOD Music, but this was on good terms and no bitterness was made. Following this, he released Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon in 2014, Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven in 2015, and Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' in 2016 which are all amazing albums but stray away from being his most important and influential, but all serve to make Kid Cudi what he is today. In 2018, Cudi and Kanye teamed up and formed the duo “Kids See Ghosts”. They released a self-titled album in 2018 that delves into the minds of each artist and explores their mental states, with Cudi being the voice of reason to Kanye as he delves into the parts of his mind. This collaboration between some of the biggest names in hip-hop has been widely regarded as some of the best music to come out in the past decade. After that, Kid Cudi and Travis Scott, another large rapper, collaborated under the name “The Scotts” in 2020 and made a song under the same name which gave Cudi his first-ever number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 after making music for over a decade. Since then, Cudi has released the third and final part of the Man on the Moon trilogy, titled Man on the Moon III: The Chosen. The album is split into four acts, each of which showing a different part of the hero, Kid Cudi, battling with his alter ego “Mr. Rager”. Since then, the artist has not released any new music except for a few features including one on Kanye‘s new album Donda. 

Over the years, Cudi has struggled with mental health problems and drug abuse and in 2016 he had checked himself into rehab for depression and suicidal thoughts. He always felt as if he had to live up to everyone’s expectations and would even be “miserable” when he would finish a show. He also struggled hard with cocaine addiction, especially around 2010 and it was so bad that he would “wake up in the morning and do coke immediately.” (“Kid Cudi on Overcoming Addiction”, 2018) After being arrested in 2010 for possession of a controlled substance, and the birth of his daughter, Cudi had decided to not do the drug anymore. One way he finds positives in life is by making music, as he sees music as helpful to others and therapeutic to himself. Besides music, he has been working on many other venues including fashion, acting, poetry, and more.

Cudi was one of if not the first artists in Hip Hop to stray away from the braggadocious ways and make it cool and normal to talk about one's emotions and feelings. He has influenced a handful of artists by making the music the way he does and encouraged some to explore their emotions in their songs. Kid Cudi has been the savior for the younger generation who grew up on his music, he has offered guidance, care, and what seems like a personal connection to them. He is like a big brother to these young people and offers something not many others in the music industry can.