Credit: Alamy

Kid Cudi is always evolving with his music. Since finding success with his A Kid Named Cudi mixtape and Man on the Moon: The End of Day album, the Cleveland rapper has tried his hand at different genres, all while working as an actor and diving into fashion design. Now into double figures with albums, Cudi has felt the need to find new ways of releasing music.

In 2022, Cudi created a Netflix animated series called Entergalactic. Made alongside Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, the romantic comedy show starred the likes of Timothée Chalamet, 070 Shake, Jaden Smith, Macaulay Culkin, Vanessa Hudgens, Teyana Taylor, and more. To coincide with the series, the ‘Day N Nite’ rapper also released an album of the same name.

The Entergalactic album featured two collaborations with Ty Dolla $ign: ‘Can’t Shake Her’ and ‘Willing to Trust’. The latter is the album’s most popular Spotify song with over 32 million streams, and one Cudi considers the best on the project. Part of that reason is that he thinks his voice sounds sexy.

When asked to name a highlight on the album, he told Rolling Stone, “‘Willing to Trust’, for sure. For sure, ‘Willing to Trust’. I sound my sexiest on that. I’m very, very, very proud of that song. And Ty is just an incredible artist, and to be able to have him on the two songs on the album, it’s just, this means a lot to me.”

Cudi first collaborated with Ty on ‘Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)’, a song from his collaborative album with Kanye West, Kids See Ghosts, in 2018. Then, in 2020, they teamed up on ‘Temptations’, which appeared on the Los Angeles singer’s Featuring Ty Dolla $ign album.

“He’s a really great guy,” he said. “And we became fast friends when we first met. We just hit it off. And how he got into the show, I was just thinking about the characters and thinking about these different energies and things like this. And I’ve never seen Ty act before, but I know him, and the dude is a ball of talent. I was like, ‘Man, I feel like he would be dope in this.’

“I told Netflix, I said, ‘Look, I think this is our guy. I don’t want to see anybody else. Ty is our guy.’ So it’s so dope to have him on the album and even better to have him in the show. He’s a really, really awesome highlight in the show. I think a lot of people will love his character.”

Ty is just as appreciative of Cudi as Cudi is of Ty. “Cudi is one of my favourite artists,” he told Highsnobiety. “He has been since the first moment I heard him. I love how he can hop on every genre yet still sound like a fucking rockstar. I’m super stoked about [‘Temptations’], and shout out to Cudi as we got more stuff on the way too. That beat is Skrillex collaborating with Hit-Boy, so it is a monster collaboration.”