Born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in suburban Cleveland, his career took off after he moved to Brooklyn and became affiliated with Fool's Gold, the label of DJs A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs. The label released the Day 'n' Nite EP in February 2008 and circulated a Crookers remix around the blogosphere, drumming up a good deal of buzz in the process.

It didn't hurt that Kid Cudi began to receive increasing press attention, including a nod from Rolling Stone (which touted him among the magazine's Top Five best indie hip-hop artists of 2008). Not long after the release of "Day 'n' Nite," Cudi began touring with the Fool's Gold collective, which performed at a South by Southwest showcase and subsequently joined forces with Steve Aoki and his Dim Mak collective for a North American tour.

After the remixed version of "Day 'n' Nite" climbed the U.K. singles charts, Cudi released his conceptual debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, in the summer of 2009. A year later he returned with a sequel, Man on the Moon, Vol. 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager. In 2012, he teamed with "Day 'n' Nite" producer Dot da Genius and introduced their rock-rap band, WZRD. A year after that, Indicud arrived and included contributions from soft rock sisters HAIM and former Fleet Foxes drummer Father John Misty alongside rappers A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar.

In early 2014, Cudi surprised fans by dropping the next installment in his space odyssey with little warning. Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon, which featured a guest spot from Raphael Saadiq, was issued on February 25 on Wicked Awesome/Republic. The sprawling Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven followed in 2015 with a grunge-inspired rock sound much closer to the WZRD project. Just over a year later, Cudi returned to the rap world with Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin', which featured André 3000, Pharrell Williams, Travis Scott, and Willow Smith. ~ Jason Birchmeier