A Kid Named Cudi, the revelatory debut mixtape from the increasingly influential Kid Cudi, turned 10 years young Tuesday. In the years since, the sound teased on the 16-track classic has been mastered to the point of perfection and proven undeniably impactful on younger generations with a penchant for emotional immediacy.
Late Tuesday night, Cudi himself wished the tape a happy 10th. "10 years!" Cudi said on Twitter. "What a hell of a journey so far. Still here creating, makin' what I love, all for you. Thank you to those who have been ridin' w me the whole way on this crazy trip. The mission has been the same all these years. Im here because of you."
Cudi went on to thank Plain Pat, Dot da Genius, 10.Deep, and Emile Haynie for helping set him on the path to artistic success. "I love you," Cudi said of his early days with Pat. "Days I couldn't eat ,Pat would call me up and have me come out so he could buy me a meal. Real shit."
Cudi's most recent project, the seven-track Kanye West collab Kids See Ghosts, opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 last month. As we learned earlier this week, the album was originally set to include a verse from noted Cudi fan Travis Scott.