Kid Cudi was the most recent guest on Pharrell's OTHERtone radio show, joining Williams and Scott Vener for a discussion that covered his early reaction to fame, as well as some insider info on recording sessions with Kanye West and Jay Z.
Cudi was very open about his reasoning for experimenting with drugs early on, suggesting that the dependence on substances was brought on by unexpected aspects of fame. “I didn’t like that I had money and success and I had made it and everybody that I had ever met in my life—good people—weren’t able to experience the same," he said. "And I wasn’t able to truly enjoy my success. Even though I worked hard for it, it bothered me that I had so much and my friends didn’t. It was hard for me to enjoy it. Truthfully, it didn’t seem fair.”
Later on, the conversation turned a bit lighter, with Cudi explaining how one of the melodies he wrote for Jay Z's album ended up becoming Kanye's "Welcome To Heartbreak". "We were like, ‘Oh, it’s for Jay, let’s talk about that dope boy shit, let’s make a theme for that dope boy in the kitchen,” he said, revealing that like the "Heartless" beat, the record was intended for the Blueprint 3.
Watch a clip from the interview below, and listen to the full episode on Apple Music.