I Heart My Polo Lifestyle

A big Happy Birthday shout to my boy KiD CuDi. Dude, you came such a long way & I know this is just the first stop on the train to success for you.

Now to all, I first met KiD CuDi @ Kanye’s Graduation listening session @ the old Odeon Multiplex movie theatre which is located literally right in front of the Def Jam building. A courtyard actually separates the two buildings. After the event of the night I walk over to my man Plain Pat (What Up). Sorry Pat. I’ve officially made that your entire moniker as, I’m sure, a lot of people have. If you were Jamaican I’d probably call you Plain Pat (What’ta G’won). Anyway, he introduces me to this dude with the a goatee, gold fronts (to anyone 24 & under reading this, “fronts” are what are now know as “grillz” which I refuse to call them) & a faux hawk haircut: This guy…
 

Cudder Dudder. Mr. SoLo DoLo. The Man On The Moon. Scotty McFly.

I remember giving him a pound but not thinking much about him other than he’s Pat’s boy. Oh Pat & my man Ferris Bueller. Then he’s introduced to my manager/best friend Daniel. Immediately Daniel starts giving ‘CuDi props for his songs posted on MySpace. So now I was a bit intrigued. Leaving the scene I ask Daniel who exactly “Plain Pat’s boy” was & he informs me that ‘CuDi’s this KiD who had a few dope/different sounding songs on his MySpace profile further adding that he sent me a link to his page in the past & I supposedly wasn’t really feeling his material back then. I won’t put it past Daniel but I honestly didn’t remember hearing anything about a Kid Cudi @ all.

Next Day:

So this was around the time I decided to start putting together my first & only (so far) mix tape: Adam’s Case Files. I was kind of scrambling to get features on there but knew I’d be in for quite the wait had I attempted to reach out to my ‘usual suspects’. People who have blown up & now (rightfully so) have become way too busy for small projects. So I decided to reach out to cats who I liked but weren’t quite “on” just yet. Again, this was the beginning of my search for features. I recall the conversation I had with Daniel the previous night in regards to ‘Cudi. I decided to check out his MySpace page to see what I “didn’t like” about this dude’s music & why Daniel seemed very pleased to have met him face to face. I find ‘Cudi’s MySpace page… “Day ‘N’ Nite” plays first. My jaw drops. I did the Flavor Flav “wooow!” I go to the next song “Dat New New”. Again… Impressed! I get on the phone, “Yo, Plain Pat… WHAT UP? I need your homeboy on my mix tape.” To cut to the chase, due to ‘Cudi’s then 9 to 5 & Plain Pat’s delayed email replies it took a little less than a week for Kid Cudi to come over to my apt. to work. He came through with his boy O Dot Da Genius. We actually bond instantly due to our West African heritage.

*Note – Seeds of West African decent always tend to bond instantly when meeting each other on U.S. soil. *ha*

So they both come over & we’re all just chillin’ & listening to old beats I made. That’s how the infamous FREESTYLE (as in off the top of the head) was recorded.

Kid Cudi Freestyle

►

That totally happened completely out of the blue. Like I knew Kid Cudi was dope by the time he came over to the crib but then I confirmed it once that freestyle session jumped off. I got so hyped I believe I called Q-Tip to let him know I had a golden nugget chillin’ @ my crib about to get some work done. I put them on the phone with each other. I don’t think ‘Tip really had any idea. *ha*

Well, we eventually got to work & knocked out “Wasting My Minutes” in pretty much one take. Cudder Dudder kept saying, “yo man, I’m not really feeling what I wrote for this.” O Dot & myself had to keep telling him that his shit was dope. THEN when he laid it down, in one take, he kept wanting to do shit over. Again… “Dude… You’re golden! No need. Just do your adlibs & let’s make this McDonald’s run.”

Both Cudi & O Dot are now family. They’ve met my wife & daughter. Cudi has made a few trips to my crib. We’re officially boys & I couldn’t be more happy for him. I remember our talks of his “concerns” with where he was creatively/career wise & I assured him he was going to be good. Not really foreseeing that he was going to be G.O.O.D. *ha* (a clever play of words on my part wouldn’t you agree?)

Now speaking of which, I’ll try & keep this short… I’ll TRY. So I played the original version of “Wasting My Minutes” for Kanyeezy. He liked the song a lot but I left the beat running on the demo version so ‘ye was like, “Okay, now this is sounding boring.” I told him I left extra room just in case ‘Cudi wanted to write another verse. Then I kept telling ‘ye how ill ‘Cudi was on coming up with crazy melodies to beats & how his lyrics really put you in outer space. Man On The Moon/Loner type shit for real! Kanye was intrigued but he’s Kanye so he had about 20 things running thru his mind @ once. Kanye is truly a machine. You just wouldn’t believe. *ha*

Now Peep The Fly Shit:

Weeks later, I’m back @ Kanye’s crib one late morning, paying him a visit. We hang for a few then I bounce because Kanye’s about to have a business meeting. No he didn’t kick me out… I voluntarily bounced. *ha* So about 6 city blocks away from his crib, who do I run into? Mr. SoLo DoLo himself. I tell him, “Yo I just talked you up to Kanye. I just left his crib a few minutes ago.” ‘Cudi got a little hyped like, “Word? What’d he say? Did you play him our joint? What’d he think?” Now as I’m telling ‘Cudi Kanye’s comments who do I see walking down the street? The Louis Vuitton Don himself. So I gave them the formal introduction. Weeks later I heard ‘ye flew him out to Hawaii to do some work on a lil’ project he was working on. *ha*

Well, to wrap this up, I’m happy KiD CuDi is now starting to get the props he deserves & worked hard for. Happy Birthday KiD CuDi. You’re a good dude. Hopefully we’ll get up sometime tomorrow. Peace!

Shouts:

• KiD CuDi (for obvious reasons)
• Plain Pat (for making his name just as fun to say as “Just BLAZE”. Go ahead. Try it: “Plain Pat WHAT UP”!)
• O Dot (you a genius kiiid)
• Kanye (your Midas Touch strikes again)

~ by 88-Keys on January 30, 2009.

Posted in Ear Candy (Music), Moving Pictures (Video), Ordinary People (Life), Performing Tonight... (Artists)
Tags: 88-keys, birthday, kanye west, kid cudi