Kid Cudi joins Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 to discuss his new album and series ‘Entergalactic’.

He tells Apple Music about the origins and timeline of the project, exploring love and vulnerability, collaborating with 2 Chainz, working in animation, and continuing to explore various creative pursuits. He also touches on the incident at Rolling Loud Miami and tells Zane he wants to put music on the back burner, “close the chapter on Kid Cudi”, and that he doesn’t have the desire to record and tour any more albums.

On The Origins of ‘Entergalactic’…

Man, I think, back in the day when I came up with it for the title of my song, this love song I created for the first album, it was more so an expression of feelings, of just euphoric, just fantastic feelings that you have when you meet a woman for the first time, where you hang out with a crush, or somebody you really have feelings for. And the original song was inspired by a story that years ago, early on in my New York days, I met this girl and we hit it off and we did shrooms at her apartment and we just had this really magical night. And I just was like, “Oh, it was so Entergalactic”, and that just stuck with me and that’s why I decided to title the song that. When I was thinking about this, just writing, thinking about, “Oh, I’m writing a love story again, and this is back in the early days, this is me showing Kid Cudi’s Lover Boy R&B side.” Which, I’ve only had a chance to do a couple times on albums here and there. So, this is just me really tapping into that.

On Exploring Love and Vulnerability on the Album…

The idea of making an album where the theme is love could come off a little cheesy, if done the wrong way. My whole thing was, how can I do this from the Kid Cudi perspective, where I never look at myself as Mr. Smooth, or any type of guy like that. So, my sh*t comes from a very sensitive, vulnerable, honest place and that was the angle that I took. It wasn’t trying to be cool, or trying to say the slickest sh*t. It was more so like, “Hey baby, these are my feelings. This is what’s on my heart. Do you feel this way too?” The whole record was about just being vulnerable about sh*t. It wasn’t necessarily, me coming from the Kid Cudi perspective, it was more so Jabari, the character in the story…and what he was feeling, and I used myself as just an instrument.

On Collaborating with 2 Chainz on “Can’t Believe It”…

So, I had this joint, and I was sitting on it and I really loved it and I was like, “Man, I need somebody… I need somebody on it. I need somebody that can come on here with that juice”… 2 Chainz, man, he been my boy for years. I’ve known him my whole career…He is the coolest mother f*cker. And I just reached out to him and he was like, “Say no more.” And he showed up and he showed out. And I’m so grateful that he was able to do it too, man.

On The Timeline of the Project…

Well, the album was done in 2019. It took the whole year…I was sitting on it, man. I did Man On The Moon III right after. So, I knocked that out in 2019. And then, the show took about three years, from 2019 to 2022. It was a beautiful thing to just see it all come together. The marriage of the two things, just seeing that my crazy idea is working…That was the real exciting part. Just like, “Wow, I had this really ambitious idea.” It’s never been done before, so I can’t say, “It’s like this, or like that” but, it’s working.”

On Why He Wants To “Close The Chapter on Kid Cudi”, Put Music on the Back Burner and Not Releases More Albums or Tour…

The Kid Cudi stuff, I think I want to put it on the back burner and chill out with that. I think, I want to be done with it. I think, closing the chapter on Kid Cudi. The goal for Entergalactic, I was bored of making albums. Just, doing an album, two music videos and that’s it. And I was like, “Man, I went into this wanting to do something epic and different.” And now, that I’ve done that, I just… I’ve made a lot of music, man. I’ve said a lot and I have other desires; I have other things I want to do. And I do not see me never making music, I’ll always f*ck around in the studio, or make something here and there. But, as far as getting in the studio and working on an album, and then going and touring it, I just don’t have it in me. I don’t have the desire. I have so many other things I want to invest my time into… I really want to spend more time with my daughter. You know what I’m saying? We’ve been kicking in a lot lately and I’ve been having more time and it’s good, she’s growing up, our relationship is super tight. It’s what I always dreamed of.

On Walking Offstage at Rolling Loud Miami…

It’s supposed to be an unspoken agreement… Amongst artists and fans, that you’re supposed to give the utmost respect and not interfere with the performance.

On Working with Animation…

I think, it was all about just making the story real and grounded. We were using animation and there are some elements in the show that take you to a different place and space in time, it’s really trippy at moments. But, it’s still a very grounded story and that was key. And throwing the humor in there and just making it super relatable, just like what I do with anything else I do, marrying the two things, the music and animation.

On Casting The Show…

Everybody that I thought about for this, showed up. And the people that I didn’t know personally that I reached out to, I found out that they did this show, because they were fans of me. And it was just such a wonderful feeling to have support from your peers and to see people believe in your vision and ready to take the ride with you. And I remember I texted Timmy, I was like, “Dude, I got an idea man. I have this show. I want you on this show, I want you to play my weed dealer.” And he thought it was so funny, but he just stayed true to saying that he wanted to do it. And I made sure he got the scripts, he knew the story, because I didn’t… We’re friends and I still don’t want this man to think I’m going to lead him into some bull.So, I made sure he had the scripts and his team read it and I was like, “Look man, it’s dope. This is not no bull.” He read it, he loved it. So, it’s just assembling the team, Timmy was the first person that signed on, that we got. And the same thing happened with Ty, getting him involved. Because, I’ve never seen Ty act before, but I just know him as this really talented musician. I was just like, “I love his look. I think it would be great in animation, it would translate perfectly.” And I was just like, “Him and Timmy being my two boys, that just…Us three just look like, such a crazy clique.

On His Success…

The response to the first album, was something I never imagined. At best, I thought I was just going to be like, “I have a record deal, I had one album and that was it.” I didn’t know… I didn’t imagine, all these years later, I would still be doing it, still be relevant and taking it to the next level…

On What’s Next and Further Exploring His Creative Pursuits…

Well, first off, I feel really great. I feel accomplished, because like I said, this was a really ambitious thing and I really hoped to God, it was going to work, but you never know what these things… You never know, there was so many different pieces that we needed to execute it. So, now with this, I realize my pen game is just serious, it’s strong. And I want to just write more TV shows, write more movies, produce more. I just want to focus on Mad Solar Productions and just get that sh*t out a little bit more. And then, on the side, I got my clothing line that’s debuting in January, in Paris, during fashion week. So, I got those two things I’m really focused on and just designing and writing and that’s where I see myself headed.