Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi (/ˈkʌdi/ KUDD-ee; often stylized as KiD CuDi), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and record executive. He has widely been recognized as an influence on several contemporary hip hop and alternative acts. Cudi began to gain major recognition following the release of his first official full-length project, a mixtape titled A Kid Named Cudi (2008), which caught the attention of American rapper-producer Kanye West, who signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label imprint by late 2008.
In early 2008, Cudi rose to prominence with the release of his commercial debut single "Day 'n' Nite", which became a worldwide hit. It was later featured on Cudi's seminal debut studio album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day (2009), which was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2017. In 2010, he released his second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, and formed the rock band WZRD with his long-time collaborator Dot da Genius. Their eponymous debut album (2012) debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
Cudi has since released the solo albums Indicud (2013), Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon (2014), Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (2015), Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' (2016), and Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020). Cudi's joint album with West, under the eponymous name Kids See Ghosts (2018), was met with widespread critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2018. In 2020, Cudi earned his first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Scotts", a collaboration with American rapper Travis Scott.
Cudi has sold 22 million certified records in the United States and has won two Grammy Awards. He has worked with numerous prominent artists in the music industry, including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, David Guetta, MGMT, Shakira, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Michael Bolton. After signing to GOOD Music, Cudi has since gone on to launch his own record label imprints, the now-dissolved Dream On and current independent label Wicked Awesome Records. Cudi also ventured into acting when he was cast in the HBO series How to Make It in America. He has since appeared in several feature films, including Goodbye World (2013), Need for Speed (2014), Entourage (2015) and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). In addition, he has made appearances on television shows such as One Tree Hill, The Cleveland Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Westworld. In 2015, he was the bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2020 was added as a cast member for the HBO mini-series We Are Who We Are.