Kid Cudi reflects on the joy of his career, and the depression he suffered for five years, in the trailer for his upcoming documentary, A Man Named Scott, which dropped Tuesday.
Born Scott Mescudi, the 37-year-old rapper reveals that the goal of his music is to “help people in some way. How can I make something that calls out to the broken and the lost.”
Cudi’s 2008 debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was certified double-platinum. He’s won two Grammys, and recorded with a who’s who of hip hop during his 13 year career, including Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige. Yet despite his success, he admits there was a time when he was broken and lost. Cudi had suicidal thoughts for five years.
“I had a hard time dealing with the adjustment from being Scott to being Kid Cudi,” he admits. “People look at me, but I’m not a happy person. I felt like a fraud. That’s what drove me to escape reality.”
Cudi became an alcoholic, and suffered an emotional breakdown in 2013. Since then, he’s turned his life around.
“I sacrifice my privacy and put my life out there to help others,” he says. “That’s always been my mission.”
The Cleveland rapper recorded a song with Jay-Z for the soundtrack of The Harder They Fall, the new Netflix western, co-produced by Hova, starring Idris Elba and Regina King. His eighth solo album, Entergalactic, is set to be released in 2022.
A Man Named Scott will premiere November 5 on Amazon Prime Video.
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