At some point, I had to ignore what people thought of me. I had to be my own biggest fan from an early age. Once I learned that, it was like a superpower. That was the armor that got me through high school.
Kyle
We really have the power to illuminate all negative things in our life, but we have to find that light source inside of us and really tap in with it and reconnect with it.
'Beautiful Loser' had a lot of great records. It had a lot of really heartfelt songs on there. But I felt, at the time, it didn't have it's own cohesive sound.
If you can't love yourself, you can't love other people.
When I heard my first rap song and figured out what that was, I kind've stuck to it. I always wanted to be a musician in general, an entertainer. I just started rapping. I never decided, 'Oh, I want to be a rapper.'
I really like blending two things together that are polar opposites. Because I feel like, in a large aspect, that's kinda like what I am.
Everybody on my street was broke, running around with no shoes on. We didn't have money, but we played tag, we talked. It was great.
When you roast yourself, it makes everybody else comfortable.
It's not about being happy 100 percent all the time, cause that's just life. I make sad songs, too, that really only make the happy songs better.
The Kyle who made 'Smyle' honestly has a little more conflict in his life. He has a little more weight on his shoulders. He feels like he has to make an album about something. It's a Kyle with duty, with a plan, with a responsibility.
People called me sharktooth, Dracula. I got made fun of so much cause I couldn't afford braces.
If I was a spy, I would have a watch that would cloak me in invisibility.
I'm definitely a West Coast artist, so much so that I'm gonna get 'Thug Life' tatted on my stomach one day.
Doesn't matter if you're sad or happy. I can be sad, you can be happy; it's all good. That's all I'm saying - let's just be us.
I would want people to be their own superheroes, save their own days, know that nobody else is gonna do it for you. You have to pick yourself up out of your dark moment; you gotta be your own source of light, just like I was for me.
My relationship with my father is fine. Every relationship has its ups and downs because bad things happen in all relationships. But for me, I can only write about what I'm feeling in the moment and something that actually happened to me.
I think love is, by far, the strongest force in the entire universe. Love is so strong, it'll make you do something that, in any other circumstance, you would never do.
My style has been compared to someone probably like the Fresh Prince.
Pete Rock, CL Smooth, all this East Coast stuff - that's kind of, like, the rappers I first admired. I wanna rap just like them because I just thought they were so hard. I thought their delivery was so crazy.
The name 'Light of Mine' came from how the album was conceived and what its purpose was in telling my story. I started making it at a time when I was, more or less, in a darker place than usual.
I don't think anyone has the same music sound as me. I can't think of anyone else.
I want to make an impact on people. Like John Lennon writing 'Imagine,' a song that changes an entire generation of people.
For me, I feel like the most important part of music is the storytelling behind it, and that's my favorite; that's what makes my favorite artists my favorite artists, having the story that I relate to the most and that helps me the most.
I know everywhere is cool and all, but, at least for me, I was lucky enough to be in southern California. I feel lucky to be from there... I feel like it taught me how to be polite.
I just like blending all the genres together but blending them up in a good way. I try to be as free as I can with it.
I had the type of family who would tell all their kids, 'You're going to be president.'
When you start making music, you start making music at a young age, and for me, I just thought, like, 'Ahh, once you make it, all your problems will be solved, and everything will be fine.'
I'd love to be more involved in sports. There's so much positive energy - I have to be around it. Especially as I get older.
My momma will roast my friends all of the time. If you're one of my friends, and you meet my mom for the first time, she will definitely roast you in a polite way. It's just to test your bars.
I've been a nerd my whole life.
I really love 'Mr. Rager.' I know the first album is incredible, but my favorite Kid Cudi album is the second one.
Growing up in California has completely made me the person that I am.
I've always wanted to make people feel better or feel alright or feel comfortable or not threatened and feel OK in their own skin.
All I can do with my music is try and be a light for people who are in a dark time.
Mike Tyson and Kool G Rap had lisps - lisps always been cool!
My family loves Mark McGwire.
I feel like one of my strengths is writing about stories that are unique to me but somehow relate with everyone, and the one thing I've found is that if you make a song wholly unique to you, then you don't have to compete with everybody, because nobody else can make a song like you.
I feel like the biggest key to longevity is maintaining what's special about yourself but always presenting it in a new way. That way, people can never get tired of you.
I heard 'Why,' and I think that's when I first started learning about Jadakiss.
Imagine if James Brown was your roommate. What? Do you know how much fun you'd be having all the time? Oh my God, he would have you looking the freshest. He would have you doing the funnest stuff for sure, easily. You'd be having the most crackin' parties.
I'm afraid of the dark.
I never had a plan B; I would walk around with my head up in the clouds like, 'I'm going to be a famous singer/rapper person one day.'
Around when I turned 17 and I bought my own studio equipment and started recording myself, I kinda found my own voice. I just started rapping like my normal self and this happy guy.
I always been writing songs since I was, like, six. I was listening to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Frankie Laine and people like that. I was just in the backyard writing songs.
I always wanted to do magic tricks - I feel like that could be the the next wave.
I wanna make music that helps people.
I'm a drama kid at heart. That is definitely where my heart and soul is. I did 'Hairspray' in high school - I was Seaweed.
I need to get as deep as I can into my own heart to really make people connect and react to the music as passionate as possible.
I grew up really kind of mixed up. I lived with my white grandparents and mom and got made fun of a lot because I talked like her.
I've been compared to Drake before and Kid Cudi.
