Kid Cudi Says It’ll ‘Take a Motherf–king Miracle’ to Mend Kanye West Friendship

KID CUDI OPENED all the way up about the disintegration of his friendship with Kanye West, telling Esquire it would “take a motherfucking miracle for me and that man to be friends again.”

The two artists have been closely linked for over a decade, working closely on various projects, including the 2018 collaborative album, Kids See Ghosts,while also feuding and reconciling on a handful of occasions. Earlier this year, though, their relationship appeared to fall apart after Ye yanked Cudi from Donda 2 and shared a photo on Instagram of Cudi and Pete Davidson — who was dating West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, at the time — with X’s over their faces (Timothée Chalamet also appeared in the picture, with no X on his face). Cudi, in turn, tweeted, “Too bad I don’t wanna be on ur album u fuckin dinosaur.”

In his new interview, Cudi spoke about the deluge of social media trolls he had to deal with after West shared that photo: “That shit pissed me off,” he said. “That he had the power to fuck with me that week. That he used his power to fuck with me. That pissed me off… You fucking with my mental health now, bro.”

Of West roping him into the drama with Davidson and Kardashian, Cudi added, “None of this shit had anything to do with me. If you can’t be a grown man and deal with the fact that you lost your woman? That’s not my fucking problem. You need to own up to your shit like every man in this life has. I’ve lost women, too. And I’ve had to own up to it. I don’t need that in my life. I don’t need it.”

In a striking “he can’t keep getting away with it”-esque moment, Cudi even leaned into Ye for putting him and others through a constant cycle of fighting and making up. “I’ve watched so many people throughout the years that are close to him be burned by him doing some fucked-up shit,” he said. “And then they turn around and forgive him. And there’s no repercussions. You’re back cool with this man. He does it over and over.”

Cudi also offered a frank assessment of his creative relationship with West over the years, expressing frustration that people still think West “made my career or made me who I am.” This perception is largely based on West bringing Cudi into the fold to help him craft his landmark 2008 album, 808s and Heartbreak, after becoming enamored with Cudi’s own 2008 debut mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi. While Cudi said that opportunity was “really fucking awesome,” he stressed, “Kanye West did not come and pluck me out of Applebee’s or the Bape store.” 

But despite how fruitful their collaborations have been over the years, Cudi noted how unequal the nature of their creative partnership has always been. “I’ve been on every one of that man’s albums. He’s only been on two of mine,” he said. “That should tell you something. And don’t think I didn’t ask.”

As to whether this feud might one day find some kind of resolution, Cudi made a pointed reference to another one of West’s longtime frenemies: “With all due respect, I’m not Drake, who’s about to take a picture with him next week and be friends again, and their beef is squashed. That’s not me. What I say, I mean. I will be done with you. It’s gonna take a motherfucking miracle for me and that man to be friends again. I don’t see it happening. He gon’ have to become a monk.”  

Still, Cudi added, “The twisted thing is that I love him, but I love you so much that I can kick you the fuck out of my life and be done with your ass. ‘Cause you are not good for me… I didn’t love myself all them years you knew me. I love myself more now, bro. I love myself way more.”

From Rolling Stone US.