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Kid Cudi has always mentioned his birth name in his music, and there’s a distinct difference between the rapper and the man. He’s been spitting about Scott Mescudi since the early days of his career, rapping on ‘Cudi Get’, a highlight from 2008’s A Kid Named Cudi mixtape, “Scott Mescudi, boy they was doubtin’ him/ Until they Googled me and found Imeem.”

Since then, he’s continued bringing the real him into his lyrics and song titles. On his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, released in 2009, Common served as the narrator throughout the project and referred to Cudi as Scott.

He’s even named songs after his real name, one of them being ‘Scott Mescudi vs. the World’ from Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr Rager. The track introduced his second album and featured guest vocals from Cee-Lo Green. Then, during the intro for ‘Ghost!’, which appears later on the album, he says, “My name is Scott Mescudi.”

On his next album, 2013’s Indicud, he kept up the intro tradition by naming the first song ‘The Resurrection of Scott Mescudi’, using an audio sample of Macauley Culkin as a psychotic school child from the 1993 film The Good Son.

But what is the difference between Kid Cudi and Scott Mescudi? On the morning of September 15th, 2009, the release date for his debut album, the Cleveland rapper explained to DJBooth how he views the two different personas.

“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,” he said.

Continuing, “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.”

He added, “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.

When asked how he wanted Kid Cudi to be viewed, he admitted he was imperfect and wanted to help people find their purpose. “I want people to just look at me as that big brother or little brother in their family, that just is tryin’ to become a man and figurin’ things out in life, when the fuzzy things happen, and things get the most confusing,” he explained.

Concluding, “I want my fans and critics to look at me as their little or big brother, and that’s all, man. And to understand me, and embrace that fact that I know I’m not perfect, and I’m puttin’ it out there in my music so other people can learn from it and learn from my ignorance, too.” All these years later, Cudi is still inspiring his fans, most recently with 2024’s Insano (Nitro Mega) album.