Day 'N' Nite (nightmare)

"Day 'N' Nite" was our introduction to Kid Cudi, and it remains his most popular song. It's autobiographical: Cudi is the "lonely stoner" who frees his mind at night. The song shows how his unbridled creative side is tempered by an isolation and paranoia that he tries to control with marijuana. "I was extremely high when I made 'Day 'N' Night'" he told Mass Appeal magazine. "I went in trying to express some feelings and it ended up being one of my biggest records." "My music is like a diary," he added. "I feel like I'm in my own world and alone, even if I'm in a crowd of people."

Kid Cudi wrote and produced this song with Dot da Genius when the pair were living together in New York City and trying to make their mark. Cudi (real name, Scott Mescudi) was born and raised in Cleveland, but his laid-back, off-kilter style didn't connect there, so in 2004 he moved to New York, where there's more of a market for alternative hip-hop. After he and Dot wrote the song in 2007, Cudi posted it on MySpace, the social network of choice for musicians at the time. Bloggers took note, and the song got the attention of Kanye West's tour DJ, A-Trak, who released it on his Fools Gold label in Spring 2008. West then signed Kid Cudi to his Good Music label as the song became a hit across European dancefloors. Later in 2008, Cudi appeared on "Paranoid" from West's 808's & Heartbreak album, and Good Music re-issued "Day 'N' Nite." The song took off early in 2009 and peaked at #3 that May, about 18 months after Cudi posted it on MySpace.

Kid Cudi told The Guardian January 20, 2009, that when he recorded this song, he was not in a great place emotionally. Cudi explained: "I was going through a lot of stuff at the time in my life and so I felt like I needed to write those things down just to get them off my chest. I wasn't really thinking about making a hit record or anything like that, I was just making the song to get my feelings out."