If you’ve ever wondered what the sountrack to Kid Cudi’s life is, you will finally find out. Complex has covered Cudi’s 25 favorite albums ever, and the list is very eclectic. Hit the jump to see the list and to read his interesting descriptions of each one.
As WZRD Week continues here at Complex, we’ve been speaking with Kid Cudi and Dot Da Genius about their friendship, the making of their new album, and Dot’s best known beats, not to mention Cudi’s favorite style brands. Leaving no stone unturned, we were curious to find out what albums inspired them. We figured that an artist like Cudi—whose creativity defies stylistic boundaries and borders—would have a wide variety of musical tastes. And we weren’t disappointed.
Cudi told us all about the albums that he can’t live without—and two artists that he loves so much he flat-out refused to select just one album. His picks ranged from alternative bands like Crash Test Dummies to legendary rappers like The Notorious B.I.G. to indie bands like Ratatat. So click through to find out which Kanye West album is Cudi’s favorite, what song inspired his song “Day ‘N’ Nite,” and which prog-rock band he patterned WZRD’s sound after…
Jimi Hendrix
Kid Cudi: “I love all his albums. Saying ‘favorite albums’ is preposterous. Especially because of the artists that I listen to that have multiple releases, it’s really fucking tough. But if I had to chose one, I would choose his first one because I’d have to choose the one where it all started.
“Are You Experienced? was the first album of Jimi’s that I dove into and I can say inspired a lot of what Kid Cudi is today. It definitely inspired a lot of Man On The Moon, MOTM2, and the WZRDproject.
Are You Experienced? was the first album of Jimi’s that I dove into and I can say inspired a lot of what Kid Cudi is today.
“Jimi was somebody who I was getting into [during the making of] Man On The Moon. We started vibing out to that during that process of making the first album. With my projects, I look for some type of inspiration. I was looking for something that would help me take this shit to the next level, from mixtape to album.
“I needed to be inspired and I really turned to Jimi, somebody I knew of but didn’t really get into his music until later on. I tell people this all the time; I was deprived of rock and roll for so long. So now as an adult I am jumping right into it.
“It was the first one [I heard]. Hearing ‘Hey Joe’… I can’t explain it. That shit is so amazing. Those lyrics, how it was put together…. I got up on shit a little bit late, but it stands the test of time so it didn’t fucking matter. Jimi was somebody who was greater than what was going on at that time.”Michael Jackson
Kid Cudi: “You can cross through a Michael Jackson section. [Laughs.] Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad, and the Dangerous album. Put all those in one. He’s Mike! I love all his shit, but those four, those are my shit.
When it hits me that he’s not here anymore I get really angry.
“Michael is the ultimate. He is the fucking best. I don’t know what else to say besides that. He’s the illest. What is there to say that hasn’t already been said? Taken from us way too soon, same with Whitney Houston.
“I really get sad talking about Michael right now. When it hits me that he’s not here anymore it’s like, ‘Fuck.’ I get really angry. I don’t know who to get angry at, but I get really, really angry.”Pink Floyd, The Wall (1973)
Label: Harvest / Capitol
Kid Cudi: “There’s so many albums from Pink Floyd that I like, but The Wall is what I was listening to to inspire WZRD. I loved the whole catalogue, but if I was to pick one album that I listened to religiously to absorb the energy from it, that was it.”Electric Light Orchestra, ELO’s Greatest Hits (1979)
Label: CBS / Jet Records
Kid Cudi: “I stumbled upon ELO because I had a greatest hits CD from them. I was listening to it and I remember being like, ‘This shit has to be before its time.’ When it came out, people were like, ‘What the fuck is this?’
That’s ultimately what WZRD is supposed to be; A Kid Cudi-erized version of ELO.
“The instrumentation immediately inspired me. That sound that hasn’t been around in a long time. Having a guitar and marrying it with the exact same melody with string and letting those two things live together and how it sounds sonically [is amazing].
“It completely inspired me to want to do WZRD because I remember listening and loving how they combined electric guitar with the strings and how it sounded so beautiful. I wanted to kind of recreate that sound, but with my own energy behind it. That’s ultimately what WZRD is supposed to be; A Kid Cudi-erized version of ELO.”Geto Boys, We Can’t Be Stopped (1991)
Label: Rap-A-Lot-Records
Kid Cudi: A lot of people don’t know this but Geto Boys’ ‘My Mind Playing Tricks On Me’ is the song that inspired ‘Day ‘N’ Nite.’ ‘My Mind Playing Tricks On Me’ is my favorite song in the world. I love it so much I wanted to make my own version of it. And then ‘Day ‘N’ Nite’ came out of it.”Nirvana, Nevermind (1991)
Label: DGC
Kid Cudi: “Nevermind [was what I listened to] when we first started the project and towards the end I listened to In Utero.
I look to guys like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain because these are the guys that dealt with some type of internal torture.
“I look to guys like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain because these are the guys that dealt with some type of internal torture. That’s really what got me into most of these guys: ‘Hey I’m going through similar shit, how do other people deal with this?’ I know I’m not the only one getting a little crazy dealing with fame, coming from humble beginnings, and being interested in their music and life.
“I looked towards rock and roll more than any other genre for inspiration mainly because it was more poetry. I got into the writing style and how tracks were put together. Not like hip-hop, where you take a loop and people don’t mind hearing that loop for fucking four minutes and thirty seconds and there’s no change up. Rock and roll went all over the place, it’s so much more musical for me.”Nirvana, In Utero (1993)
Label: DGC
Kid Cudi: “That was an album I started absorbing. It was their last album and that was their final sound. It was like the next step for them and after that it was going to be like a whole ‘nother thing.
I remember listening to In Utero over and over again toward the end of making WZRD. I was making sure I had that similar energy.
“That album seemed like when Nirvana found their shit and they were getting in the groove of creating something new and refreshing, but with that same old Nirvana sound. I felt like that was one of the more perfect rock albums that I’ve heard from the grunge-punk era.
“I remember listening to In Utero over and over again toward the end of making WZRD. I was making sure I had that similar energy where I had a really nice cohesive album that gave people everything they wanted. Acoustic, something soft, something loud.
“I listened to that album and matched my shit to it and made sure that my shit was on the same flow and the flow of the album stayed consistent. Even though it was all over the place in the sounds, I wanted to make sure it was all in the same space and didn’t seem like an album that was all over the place.”Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)
Label: Death Row / Interscope / Atlantic
Kid Cudi: “Snoop Dogg is my favorite rapper ever, so this album is one of those things that I had to put on a list. It was the first time I was introduced to the man and I thought he was the coolest motherfucker alive. His whole cadence, his delivery, his swag—it was real. It was something that I never heard before.
“This album was the first album I heard with so many different styles on it. It had soul, it had straight-up gangster shit, all on one fucking album. Dr. Dre fucking snapped on that album. [Laughs.]
His whole cadence, his delivery, his swag—it was real. It was something that I never heard before.
“Dr. Dre always snaps, but he really flexed his shit on Doggystyle. He was flexing for Snoop and they crafted something really amazing, something that changed my life forever. Something that made Snopp Dogg my favorite rapper of all time.
“Snoop is the epitome of what a hip-hop artist is supposed to be. No fake, no phony shit. Stand-up nigga, real nigga. Came from a real fucked-up situation and made something of himself. That, to me, is what a real hip-hop artist should be.
“A lot of people can learn from cats like Snoop and Hov. These are niggas that did it the right way. These are cats that stayed true to themselves, even when Snoop does his stuff out of the box, like ‘Sexual Seduction,’ it’s still true to Snoop.
“Snoop is definitely a hip-hop artist. He’s super creative and always tries to reinvent himself and push the envelope and still stay true to Snoop. That’s where I get my whole shit, where I can do rock and roll, but it’s still Kid Cudi. The subject matter is still there, the feeling is still there, the honesty is still there, the energy, and the passion. That’s a real artist.”2Pac, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (1993)
Label: Amaru / TNT / Interscope / Priority
Kid Cudi: “2Pac inspires my mouth. When I be talking my shit and I get inspired and so passionate, when I say what I have to say—Pac inspired me to be that way. When you believe in something, you stand up for it no matter what.
When I be talking my sh*t and I get inspired and so passionate, when I say what I have to say—Pac inspired me to be that way.
“This man was probably one of the only MCs that took politics to the fucking records. He was talking about shit; he was the hood spokesmen. For now and forever. The stories he was telling—the hood tales—he told them from another perspective.
“Nas provided a different perspective for Queens, Jay-Z provided a different perspective for Brooklyn, Biggie provided a different perspective on Brooklyn. Pac definitely provided a different perspective on Cali and in the hood. You just started to see it’s not a bunch of niggas wilding out; these niggas’ backs are against the wall and they have no choice.
“This is the first rapper that educated me on some things. That’s why I have an undying love for Pac. He was such a powerful nigga. His words are so powerful. What he stood for was so powerful.”Crash Test Dummies, God Shuffled His Feet (1993)
Label: BMG / Arista
Kid Cudi: “That was the first album I ever bought. I was in the fourth grade and I just thought that ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm’ song was so silly and so funny. I just got a crack out of it. So I ended up buying the album to see what the rest of this shit was like. I ended up falling in love with the whole album.
I definitely heard that at such a young age that I was pretty sure that album sent a ripple effect in my musical taste.
“It was the first album that I remember buying, loving, and listening to from beginning to end. The way he wrote his lyrics and the melodies of the songs, it was just something that I never heard before.
“That was definitely when my ears started to get trained to like any and everything as long as it had a beautiful melody and something real with it. I definitely heard that at such a young age that I was pretty sure that album sent a ripple effect in my musical taste.”The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die (1994)
Label: Bad Boy
Kid Cudi: “When I’m telling a story [in a song] I need to listen to some Biggie shit to make sure I’m doing it right. That was somebody who I used to listen to who painted a lot of amazing stories just like Nas and Hov.
When I’m telling a story [in a song] I need to listen to some Biggie sh*t to make sure I’m doing it right.
“I would literally sit back and listen to those guys with my sister and be like, ‘Man, this shit is wild.’ These are the go-to guys I went to when I wanted to learn about New York. I was growing up in Ohio. It’s a whole other ball game where I’m from.
“It was like, hip-hop is when motherfuckers would turn on the radio to listen to Green Hornet. I would listen to stories. That was what hip-hop was to me. I only search out the artists that had something to say, a story to tell. Biggie was one of those guys.”Nas, Illmatic (1994)
Label: Columbia
Kid Cudi: “When I think about certain albums, it reminds me of a particular moment in my life. Illmaticdefinitely reminds me of my younger days. It doesn’t really remind me of school that much.
“When I heard Illmatic, I was like, ‘This nigga coming from the hood, but he sound so intellectual and so smart.’ He has a different outlook on things. He’s just telling me these tales and it was really like storytime for the hood when I heard Nas talk.”Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt (1996)
Label: Roc-A-Fella
Kid Cudi: “I listened to this album and I thought I was from Brooklyn. I listened to this shit every day before school. I used to bump that before school. It was just one of those albums that I remember listening to it like, ‘Man, in that world, where he came from, that shit is just so real to make it out of it.’
I remember coming to New York; I was seeing things. I was like, ‘Oh, this was what Hov was talking about when he said this.’
“It opened my eyes to another world that I wasn’t used to. I remember coming to New York; I was seeing things. I was like, ‘Oh, this was what Hov was talking about when he said this.’ [Laughs.]
“Listening to old Jay-Z records, it put a lot of things in perspective once I moved to New York. That was definitely an album that I listen to now that I’m like, ‘Okay, how can I make the perfect hip-hop album?’”
“There’s a couple go-to albums that I’m listening to. I’m listening to Kanye’s shit and I’m listening to Hov. And those are always two niggas I’m listening to when I’m like getting ready to work on my hip-hop shit.
“I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s think about Hov’s catalog. Let’s think about ‘Ye’s catalog.’ Let me study how these guys mastered the art of creating the perfect hip-hop album, the perfect classic.”The Notorious B.I.G., Life After Death (1997)
Label: Bad Boy
Kid Cudi: “Biggie is the one of the first rappers that I was like, ‘Damn, this motherfucker has so much swag.’ [Laughs.] Swag didn’t exist, motherfuckers weren’t using it back then. But if they were using it, he would be the king of swag.
Even today, Biggie is the king
of swag.
“Even today, Biggie is the king of swag. His whole shit was smooth: how he carried himself with that confidence, his storytelling abilities, and how he put together records.
“I remember going on road trips with my sister when Life After Death came out. Being from Cleveland, that motherfucking Bone and Biggie record just had me. To this day, that’s the Cleveland anthem. Niggas get so bucked when that song comes on.”Jay-Z, Vol.2… Hard Knock Life (1998)
Label: Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam
Kid Cudi: “When I heard ‘Hard Knock Life,’ it sent me to a whole another level. I was a kid when that came out too, so I remember that was when I got on to Hov and then I went back to Reasonable Doubtand discovered all those albums.
“When I was kid I heard ‘Hard Knock Life’ and was like, ‘Holy shit. What is this?’ And going to get the album and being like, ‘Holy shit! This is like so ground-breaking.’ And then getting Vol. 3… and being like, ‘Holy shit! This is ground-breaking.’
“This album is really important because this was the album that got me to be a Hov fan.”Dr. Dre, 2001 (1999)
Label: Aftermath / Interscope
Kid Cudi: “I remember me and my sister were at a record store and ‘Forgot About Dre’ was playing. We were listening and my sister was like, ‘Yo, what the fuck is that?’ And I was like, ‘What is that?’ [Laughs.] I remember hearing Em’s voice but I didn’t know whose record it was.
If Dr. Dre hadn’t made 2001, there would be no Kid Cudi. There would be no lonely stoner.
“We asked the dude, ‘What’s this?’ And he was like, ‘That’s that new Dr. Dre album. That’s that Chronic 2001.’ I was like, ‘Holy shit. This about to be the illest album ever.’ I got it and it was exactly that.
“It definitely put the stoner in me before I was a stoner. It definitely got me into the groove of wanting to smoke to this album. It inspired me to get high. Not to just be a stoner, but to see life from a different perspective.
“When I listened to that album, I got really into weed culture and getting stoned. It was definitely ground-breaking for me. If Dr. Dre hadn’t made 2001, there would be no Kid Cudi. There would be no lonely stoner.”Scarface, The Fix (2002)
Label: Def Jam South / Island Def Jam / Universal Records
Kid Cudi: “That was another album that I loved. It just had me saying, ‘This is a hip-hop classic.’ There’s only a few albums that I could listen to from beginning to end, The Fix is definitely one of them. When this album came out, it reminded me why I loved Scarface so much.”Nas, God’s Son (2002)
Label: Ill Will / Columbia
Kid Cudi: “God’s Son definitely reminds me of college. Growing up, my older brother really played a lot of the East Coast shit, my middle brother played a lot of West Coast and Southern shit, and my older sister was into the New Editions and the R&B scene. So I used to get a lot of all types of music coming my way.”50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003)
Label: Aftermath / Shady / Interscope
Kid Cudi: “That definitely reminds me of college. [Laughs.] We used to bump 50 and go on runs to fucking steal liquor from Kroger. We’d come back to the hut and 50 Cent was our soundtrack for the entire scheme of things.
“That was an album where I was excited about hip-hop again when it came out. That’s also one of my favorite hip-hop classics, an album I go to to see, like, ‘Okay, this is how you make a hip-hop album classic.’”Kanye West, The College Dropout (2004)
Label: Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam
Kid Cudi: “The reason why this is my number-one favorite Kanye album is because it was the first time I heard an MC who had the same subject matter that I was looking for and the lane I was trying to run down as an MC. It inspired me to not be self-conscious.
This is my number-one favorite Kanye album.
“My subject matter was always along the lines of my life, school, and doing shit like that. At that time, that shit was non-existent in modern-day mainstream music. Kanye came in and changed the whole shit up.
“I remember getting the album and being inspired like, ‘Man, I can do this. I can tell my story, I can tell my tale and affect people the same way Kanye did.’ So that was the first album that I listened to where I got the confidence to keep treading down the course.
“You get to that point where you might be self-conscious and think, ‘Are people going to connect with this? Is this shit too corny?’ I realized with Kanye that as long as you stay true to yourself, people are going to respect you and love you for it. That was the album that really taught me that lesson.”Ratatat, Ratatat (2004)
Label: XL Recordings
Kid Cudi: I think Ratatat is one of the most important bands [to come out] in a long time. They don’t get enough credit. I will forever be a Ratatat supporter. They are two fucking amazing dudes. They’re geniuses and the world is sleeping on them. They have fueled this whole Kid Cudi experience that you guys know. Their music has helped me through the grind. It’s very therapeutic.”Kanye West, Graduation (2007)
Label: Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam
Kid Cudi: “Aside from College Dropout, I’d say Graduationis my favorite Kanye album. When that album came out, I was working at the BAPE store. I remember telling my boy to have it on repeat all day. That album was the album that helped pass the time at work.
I used to listen to that at work all the time—just sitting there like, ‘When is it going to be my turn?’
“As I was listening to it, it got me more and more inspired about my plight as an musician. Sitting at the job spot and hearing songs like ‘I Wonder,’ that was my shit. I used to listen to that at work all the time—just sitting there like, ‘Fuck, when is it going to be my turn?’
“I remember very specifically sitting there at work listening to it. It kept me through my shift. It let me know, ‘Man, it’s all good. It’s just the grind. You gonna make it through this shit. Stay focused.'”MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (2007)
Label: Columbia / Red Ink
Kid Cudi: “MGMT inspired me to take my mind on a whole new creative plain. What I think is the most magical thing about MGMT is when you listen to it, it sounds like these dudes found a time machine and went back to the late ’60s and early ’70s and made this album and came back.”Ratatat, LP4 (2010)
Label: XL
Kid Cudi: “I listen to that religiously to this day. It was also one of those albums that towards the end of Man of the Moon II, I was absorbing it. Also with this new [WZRD] album—you know, when you pick up an instrument like the guitar, you instantly listen to music that utilizes that instrument with a different type of ear.
I listen to that religiously to this day.
“Its like, ‘Oh, I know how he’s playing that note. That’s a really fucking complicated riff he played right there.’ You really start to understand the artistry that goes behind playing the guitar.
“I always knew Ratatat was dope, but I had a newfound respect for them when I started to learn an instrument. I would listen to the music with a different ear and it’s exciting because I’m enjoying their music all over again. I’m hearing it for the first time just because the guitar and I’m just really super-inspired by how ill their riffs are, and their huge sounds.”MGMT, Congratulations (2010)
Label: Columbia
Kid Cudi: “They delivered something ground-breaking whether people know it or not. I think MGMT is one of the most amazing bands that has come across in a long time. I’m definitely a huge MGMT fan.”
