Kid Cudi

After signing with Kanye West’s label and the releasing his hit song Day n’ Nite, 27-year-old Kid Cudi became a household name. But there’s more to this Cleveland-born rapper/actor’s story than meets the eye.

Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, who we now know as Kid Cudi, grew up and went to high school in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a Mexican-Native Second World War veteran, as well as a house painter and substitute teacher, showing already that multiple talents run in the family. His mother was an African-American middle-school choir teacher, which is probably where he inherited his musical genius from. When he was just 11 his family suffered a great tragedy: his dad passed away from cancer, deeply affecting the way Kid saw the world.

You may not believe it since we all saw him as a talented rapper before we saw him act, but Kid Cudi went to the University of Toledo to study film. After just one year Kid wasn’t sure the film biz was for him and decided to try his hand at something else he was talented at ... you guessed it, rapping! He had been rapping since the end of high school after being inspired by alternative rap groups like A Tribe Called Quest and Pharcyde, and after his first year in university Kid decided it was time to pack up his bags and head for to the Big Apple to show people what he could do with his rhymes.

Once he had moved to Brooklyn, Kid Cudi released his first mixtape called A Kid Name Cudi with street wear company 10.Deep, which was available for free online. It didn’t take long till the mixtape reached the ears of veteran rap star Kanye West, who decided immediately that he had to sign the talented young star. Kid was featured on Kanye’s album 808 & Heartbreak singing along with Kanye on Welcome to Heartbreak and also helping write songs on the album. Cudi was soon named an artist to watch by Rolling Stone Magazine, and were they ever right! By the start of 2009 Day n Nite had been released and it quickly blew up the charts. By fall of 2009 Kid Cudi had released his first full length album Man on the Moon: The End of Days and after that everyone wanted to work with him, from indie rock bands to chart-topping rappers.

It wasn’t just musicians eyes that Kid Cudi caught, he also caught the eye of actor/director Mark Wahlberg, and he was soon cast as an actor in the hit HBO series How To Make It In America, showing everybody that he truly is a creative jack of all trades. But don’t worry, Kid hasn’t traded in his microphone for a script for good. He has been planning to form a new band this year, rumoured to be called 2 Be Continuum, he is also planning to try a new genre of music and make a rock album as well as a new mixtape. We’d say that he’s definitely found out “how to make it in America” and we can’t wait to see what he’ll come up with next!