When Kidd Cuddy (real name Scott Mescudy) moved from Cleveland to Brooklyn in the mid-2000s. And began posting songs on MySpace, the Internet was the primary means of expressing our culture.
But with the debut single “Day ‘n’ Nite”, it was a global success:
This is the leading artist for the new breed. Farrell Williams was the first to be interviewed on A Man Named Scott, and as he puts it. Cuddy was part of the online freedom movement by “the people who didn’t join”. Keeping the boundaries of “populated”.
As the film reached its early days of artist writing and performing. Recommendations from friends and colleagues continued to emphasize the same descriptor. Being whimsical, open-minded, not wanting to stick to a script. “We are creators,” explained Schoolboy Q. “We just wanted to be creative.”
That feeling is reflected in Willow Smith, his brother Jaden, A$AP Rocky, Timothy Shalamet, and even Shaya LaBeouf. All pointing to the vulnerability and introspection inherent in Kid Cudi’s swirling. Sometimes confusing but always melodic and rhythmic songs stay.
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The qualities they find inspiring for their careers as creatives of a particular generation. Kid Cudi himself describes his tireless efforts to make the music he wants, the label claims damn it. Being an “internet rapper” suddenly became something the public and industry had to deal with. But even as his pursuit of success emerges, Cuddy trembles inside. “It’s hard for me to deal with the change from this guy, from Scott to Kidd Cuddy.
Ultimately, “A Man Named Scott” becomes a tale of the clash between creative desire and the powerful forces of emotional turmoil, chronic depression, and suicidal thoughts. Cudy travels through addiction and darkness before clearing and returning to his appearance, regaining the joy he once felt for creation. But it comes with a caveat. “I don’t want to take dark pictures anymore. This chapter is over. I just hope the fans really can see that I’m finally – that Scott is finally – in a better place.”
Findings from producers and longtime employees of Cudi Dot da Genius, Plain Pat and Emil Haynes:
In the kinetic creative process, inform on a fundamental level the working artist who makes the production happen. Before anything else can happen, there has to work to write, record and challenge the big things in life.
Undoubtedly, Kid Cudi’s signature sound influences modern hip-hop sounds that are amorphous, deep, or often just weird and uncomfortable, from his amplifying melodies for Kanye West to Future and Lil Yachty. Kudi takes the scythe in his soul and throws the tape on his beat.
But while it gave him multiple platinum milestones and influence marks. It wreaked havoc on the man on the inside. And the emotional low point of a man named Scott was the public declaration that he was going to rehab. “I am just a wounded person swimming in a pool of emotions every day of my life,” he writes in the Facebook post in October 2016. “There is always a great storm in my heart. IDK what is the feeling of peace. I’m not calm. I haven’t since you met me.”
While skillfully retelling the film Kudi, who struggles with addiction and chronic depression:
Some of these, starring Jaden Smith, wasn’t as lucky as interviews with the artists themselves. Scott was careful to portray the confusion, lack of space and fear as universal problems that are a natural result of life on this earth. “Feeling lost is where you should be”. And it is this language that is heard in the tone of counselling and therapy. Which is the endpoint here. Also beyond the music that is being made.
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Music is therapeutic too – Kid Kudi says his post-rehab album Kids See Ghosts. Who recorded as a duet with Kanye West, really saved him. But the message here is clear. It’s good to be weird. It’s good to have a restless mind because decay can organically lead to real art. In the pursuit of happiness, all that glitters is not always gold.
A man named Scott has a reflective and thoughtful view of Kidd Cuddy’s life and career but suffers the most significant blow in his fight for his well-being.
