Kid Cudi x DJ Booth Interview – Audio

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In an interview with DJ Z of DJBooth.net, Kid CuDi steps into the booth to discuss his commitment to create creative music, his influence on female fans, the album itself, working with MGMT and RATATAT and lots more. Via: DJBooth.net

DJ Booth: On the song “Soundtrack to My Life,” you say you’d like to experience quote unquote “carefree living like Jay-Z.” No matter how rich and famous an artist might be, I’d argue that there’s no such thing, ever, as carefree living. Do you feel like that aim is truly realistic for an artist?

Kid CuDi: I wrote that song from an ignorant standpoint, man – I wanted to have ignorance be the undertone of the whole song. And it really is to show what one thinks when his back is up against the wall. It’s really to flip Jay’s line and kind of use it in my favor. It worked – it’s the only way I could’ve explained the situation.

Listen, download and read the transcript after the jump.

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Download: Kid Cudi DJ Booth Interview

Kid CuDi Interview Transcription

DJ Booth: What’s goin’ on, everybody? It’s your boy, “Z,” doin’ it real big, and joining me inside the DJ Booth is an artist that LL Cool J might describe as”something like a phenomenon.” His much-anticipated debut, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, was released today. Please welcome Kid CuDi – how you doin’?

Kid CuDi: What’s up? How you feelin’, man?

DJ Booth: I’m feelin’ great, but here’s the thing: when I woke up this morning, I didn’t have a smile on my face ‘cause my debut album was out, but I’m sure you did.

Kid CuDi: Yeah, man – how’d you know? I did definitely wake up with a smile on my face, and put on my favorite outfit! [laughs]

DJ Booth: What’s that like, waking up knowing that so much hard work has finally paid off, and your debut is out, available to the masses?

Kid CuDi: It’s a great feeling, it’s a great sense of accomplishment, just one of the biggest things I’ve ever done in my life. This is, like, my graduation from high school and college all rolled up into one. I never got a chance to experience those moments, and so, for my mother, this an amazing thing to give her, and I’m really so happy right now.

DJ Booth: At your New York private listening session, which we were at, Universal Motown President Sylvia Rhone dubbed the album as a “seminal album” which had the “ability to change the sound of music forever.” CuDi, when you created the project, did you do so with the belief that this really could impact the future of music?

Kid CuDi: Yeah, that was the goal. My main thing was to just inspire people to push the envelope [creatively] and think outside the box, and really challenge themselves, and really put in that type of hard work towards the creative side of things, I did want to make something that would baffle the critics, as far as putting it in a certain genre; I wanted them to have a hard time doin’ it. I really wanted to trick the game and open up a lot of people’s eyes, and I think we’ve done it. I came through the underground scene, I worked a nine-to-five last summer. [To be] droppin’ an album a year later, it’s really a big deal, and I think the best part about it is people are really, really supportive and really ridin’ for me, and they’re gonna be around for my whole career.

DJ Booth: Without a doubt. You mentioned the album will make it hard for people to classify you as a specific type of artist, because it’s not specifically one genre or another. When someone listens to this album, who listened to your music before you were signed, do you think they would have a hard time because it is slightly different, it’s not that hip-hop feel?

Kid CuDi: Definitely with the mixtape and the other stuff I’ve done, a lot of people are ready for me to try to keep it movin’ on the creative side, to keep pushin’ the envelope. So, the mixtape was a really good taste-tester, and then the album was the full-on entrée.

DJ Booth: On the song “Soundtrack to My Life,” you say you’d like to experience quote unquote “carefree living like Jay-Z.” No matter how rich and famous an artist might be, I’d argue that there’s no such thing, ever, as carefree living. Do you feel like that aim is truly realistic for an artist?

Kid CuDi: I wrote that song from an ignorant standpoint, man – I wanted to have ignorance be the undertone of the whole song. And it really is to show what one thinks when his back is up against the wall. It’s really to flip Jay’s line and kind of use it in my favor. It worked – it’s the only way I could’ve explained the situation.

DJ Booth: Common narrates your story on Man on the Moon, and he refers to you by your real name, Scott. At the end of the day – pun intended – what separates Kid CuDi from Scott?

Kid CuDi: Well, Scott Mescudi seems to be alive the most in his music, and Kid CuDi is what I am 24/7, when people see me on the street, when I’m in the studio, creating, what I am when I’m on magazine covers – that’s Kid CuDi, And Scott Mescudi, the normal dude from Shaker Heights, Ohio, is only present when my songs are on, when I’m recording. Like, when my voice is bein’ laid down on those records, that’s Scott Mescudi shinin’ through. So I would definitely say that Kid CuDi and Scott Mescudi are one and the same, however Scott Mescudi is only ever really in the light when you’re listenin’ to his songs.

For the full transcript visit: http://www.djbooth.net/index/interviews/entry/kid-cudi-interview-0922091/