Kid Cudi

With "Day 'n' Nite" issued as its lead single, his debut studio album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), was released to critical and commercial success. It received quadruple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned two hit singles: "Make Her Say" (featuring Kanye West and Common) and the diamond-certified "Pursuit of Happiness" (featuring MGMT and Ratatat). His second album, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010), was met with continued success; it received platinum certification and spawned the singles "Erase Me" (featuring Kanye West) and "Mr. Rager". Cudi formed the rock band WZRD with long-time collaborator and producer Dot da Genius; their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted atop the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.

Outside of recording, Cudi has launched his own vanity labels: the now-defunct Dream On, and his label imprint since 2011, Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi ventured into acting with the HBO series How to Make It in America in 2010, and has appeared in the films Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015), Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020), Don't Look Up (2021), and X (2022). In 2015, he starred as a bandleader in the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang!. He played a dramatic role in the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are in 2020. That same year, he launched the production company Mad Solar; its first release was the documentary A Man Named Scott (2021), which chronicled Cudi's career and upbringing. In fashion and modeling, Cudi has partnered with Giuseppe Zanotti, Virgil Abloh, Bape, Coach, Adidas, Calvin Klein, and Levi's on campaigns before launching his own clothing line in 2022.

Cudi first began rapping in 2003, towards the end of his time in high school, and was inspired by alternative hip-hop groups such as the Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. He later moved to New York City to pursue a music career. After leaving Cleveland in 2005 with $500 and a demo tape, he moved in with his uncle, accomplished jazz drummer Kalil Madi, in the South Bronx. He worked at a couple of Manhattan clothing stores, before eventually sharing an apartment with friend and collaborator Dot da Genius in Brooklyn.

In 2006, Cudi ran into his future mentor, rapper and producer Kanye West, in a Virgin Megastore. He recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview, "I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West." He introduced himself and offered West some of his music. Cudi later ran into West again while working at the BAPE store in New York, and recalled: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things. I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."

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