Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi has lived in every borough in New York City, even Staten Island.

Although his initial introduction to the music world was via his first mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, Kid Cudi would garner more and more attention, most notably from Kanye West, who, upon hearing the mixtape, signed him to his own label, GOOD Music. Since then, the two have worked together on many occasions, including on Cudi's singles, "Make Her Say," and "Erase Me." This talking point of Kanye West launching Cudi's carrer started wearing on him because he was already on the rise. "Kanye West did not come and pluck be out of Applebee's or the Bape store," he told Esquire in 2022.

Due to the enormous pressure of being a successful musician, Kid Cudi nearly retired from music in 2009, writing in his blog, "After the release of my first LP this summer, I am not making anymore solo albums. I am falling back on being an artist. The drama that comes with it is more overwhelming than I was dealing with when I was piss-poor broke." Nearly a week later, he changed his tune, saying, "You remember when Spiderman didn't want to be Spiderman no more? I understand that I need y'all and y'all need me, so I can't stop."