Kid Cudi Channels Art, Fashion, and Mental Health Advocacy

In 2009, the musician Scott Mescudi debuted his first album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, under the stage name Kid Cudi. It was a taste of what he’d bring to the world over the next 15 years: 12 albums, hundreds of music videos, countless concerts, and a plethora of inspiration for those listening worldwide. Quickly, melomaniacs understood that Mescudi’s craft was turning his vulnerability into lyrics, structuring songs around some of life’s hardest measures, including identity, heartbreak, loneliness, stress, dissipation, and addiction. Although a personal reflection of Mescudi’s life, early songs like “Day ’n’ Night,” “Mr. Rager,” and “Pursuit of Happiness” became relatable anthems for youth grappling with the dichotomy of pleasure and pain, aiming to figure out who they were in a world full of endless pressure and possibility. 

Becoming Kid Cudi

In the years and albums since, Mescudi adjusted to life from being Scott to being the Grammy Award–winning musician Kid Cudi by wrestling with the complexities of fame publicly, sharing content that confronts his traumas and triumphs. He continued to release records that touched upon the hardship and celebration he was going through in real time, utilized his platform to draw attention to mental health, and launched a colorful clothing line named Members of the Rage (MOTR), too. The latter is a manifestation of touchpoints that influenced him and his idea of the world as he grew up, from 1990s cartoons to pop culture. Its fourth collection—filled with his colorful spins on varsity jackets, cardigans, suits, and jeans—hits stores in January 2025.

At MOTR’s preview during New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in September, Whitewall met with the multiplatinum recording artist to hear more about navigating life in the limelight, how his appreciation for humble creativity informs his personal art collection, and why he’s committed to being a better version of himself every day. 

Influenced by a Creative Era

WHITEWALL: Let’s take it back to your early days of growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. I read your mother was a choir teacher, and your father worked as a substitute teacher, too, along with being a World War II veteran and a house painter. How did they shape your interest in the creative arts?

SCOTT MESCUDI: Definitely. I would say my musical interest came from my mother. There was always music in the house. She was, very early on, tapping into my talent, whether it was putting me in to do a solo at a school show or throwing me into a talent show contest in Cleveland. She really championed me and my creativity. A lot of things from my childhood informed me, like pop culture, movies, and TV shows. I was kind of raised in the best eras ever, you know? The eighties and nineties! I consumed some of the best content—some of the best movies and TV shows. That era is what really inspires me. And my work ethic, you know, truly comes from my parents as well.

WW: Did they also inform your understanding of a healthy work ethic? 

SM: They were always hardworking. At 15, I had my first job at Wendy’s. I was always trying to get the money, and I didn’t have a problem working for it—and working hard. I was talking to one of my friends the other day, saying, “Man, I have 12 albums.” Twelve albums! You don’t realize that you’re doing all this work when the years fly by, you just go from one album to the next and you’re in it. My work ethic is crazy. I always want to make something. I always want to create something.

Kid Cudi’s Early Start in Music

WW: Do you remember having an “aha” moment, realizing you wanted to be in the music industry professionally? 

SM: I think I was 16 when I decided that I wanted to do music professionally. I would go to open mic contests, and as the years went on, through freestyle battles and talent shows and things like that, I got better as a performer—as an artist. It was a huge piece to why, when people started to discover me as Kid Cudi, my stage presence was good. I knew how to put on a show. I learned a lot of that in Cleveland, being thrown into freestyle battles and having to do performances in front of crowds that didn’t know me; not going up there and getting booed off stage. Cleveland is a tough crowd when you’re up and coming. 

WW: What were some of the challenges during at that time, navigating pressure and shaping your personal identity while thinking about longevity?

SM: The hardest part was dealing with the celebrity side of things. Being recognized in the street, having the media interested in my personal life. It was a lot for me to handle because I never imagined it could be what it ended up being. And I was just not prepared. I had a hard time, and the music really captures a lot of what I was feeling at that time, especially Man on the Moon 2 and some songs on Man on the Moon 1. I was having a hard time dealing with the adjustment from being Scott to being Kid Cudi, and it was a lot for me, but over the years I’ve started to get more acclimated in my position as a role model—as this hero for millions of people. For a while, I was dealing with my internal issues and people were looking up to me, and I didn’t feel like I was someone that people should look up to. 

Launching a Fashion Label

WW: Today, you have your own clothing label named Members of the Rage. Did you always want to have your own brand?   

SM: I always wanted to dabble in fashion, and I was always doing collabs with brands to learn as much as I could, but it wasn’t until 2016 when I finally started to make my samples. They came out terrible, and I got discouraged for several years after that. Then in 2021, it really took off and I revisited the idea. I had more of a vision of what I wanted to do. 

In 2016, I just wanted to make cool clothes. I didn’t have the full scope of what it was I wanted to accomplish. I didn’t see the brand 10 years from now. It took some time for me to grow and learn and figure out how to go about it. It was one of those things where I was nervous going in, because it’s a new thing and I’m not known for this. It could either be incredibly dope or it be terrible. I was just learning, asking, “Man, am I really built for this?”

I was looking at the first collection and I was so blown away, thinking, “Man, I made this.” From that point on, it just fueled me. I thought, “Okay, I can do this. I can do this a million more times.” I have a million ideas. It took a year to do the first collection, so I had all that time to really think about it and get my ideas out.

It’s like my first album. I had ideas from when I was a teenager in there. But then the second album is always the hardest because you’ve got to create from scratch, and that’s the challenge. For the second season and the third season, and now the fourth season, I’m in a rhythm, you know? I have a formula now.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun for me, knowing that I have an audience of people reacting and positively responding to MOTR.  It fuels me to want to keep pushing. 

WW: How would you describe MOTR’s ethos or its brand DNA? Who is it for? 

SM: Well, it’s a wide range of an audience, but I really want to connect to the creative out there—people that live out loud, people with colorful personalities that like to wear colorful clothing. Because that’s who I am. I’m very rarely in muted colors. I’m always in something bright. And if I’m not in something bright, then maybe I’ll do an all-black fit, but for the most part, I’m always in color. I wanted to have something that represented me for a lot of other people that are on the same wave, too. It’s carefree. 

I also wanted people, when they put on MOTR, to feel like they’re about to be in a music video or perform on stage. I love the idea of MOTR being a brand that people come and check for their staple pieces—their varsity jackets, their cardigans, their denim. It’s for those misfits—the outspoken, the artists, the creators. Anybody that has a big personality or just likes to have fun with their clothes and express themselves through their clothing. 

Members of the Rage at New York Fashion Week

WW: Why was it important for you to show during NYFW?

SM: I thought it was the perfect place to do an archival exhibition of the brand. We made sure to find some of the best pieces, some of my favorites, that give you the whole story, like the varsity jacket we did in the first collection. I want my brand to be known for its jackets, cardigans, and jeans. Every collection, I’m trying to evolve the styles and introduce new takes on classic pieces. 

I have different interests. I could wear a hoodie and some jeans, but I also like to put on a nice suit. I want this brand to be a culmination of everything that my flavor is. I want to get into doing more suits, and in the next collection, there’s a really bright, colorful, fun one. 

WW: What are some of the inspirations behind MOTR’s designs?

SM: Movies and cartoons. A lot of stuff from my youth, things I grew up watching. A lot of the colors are inspired by some of my favorite cartoons like Doug and Ren & Stimpy. Some stuff from pop culture, too. This jacket is an homage to the Thriller jacket, the one Michael [Jackson] wore when he turned into the werewolf. With each collection, I try and remake something from pop culture.  

Advocating for Mental Health

WW: At MOTR’s collection preview, you mentioned that you were donating a Givenchy cardigan that you wore on your Man on the Moon tour to an auction for the Center for Youth Mental Health—an organization Anna Wintour is part of. Can you tell us more about that? How are you thinking of fashion for good?

SM: For months, I had been trying to see how I could do something as a way to give back. I had met with Anna Wintour a year ago, and we were talking about how to get more eyes on the youth center and get the word out. It hit me to do this. So, I reached out to Anna and told her I wanted to give 100 percent of the proceeds from the sales from the cardigan to it. Any time I can incorporate something to help people—it’s always my thing. It seemed like it just made perfect sense. 

This is just another outlet for me to express that side of myself, you know? And there’s a lot of people in fashion that I’m sure deal with struggles. This is very stressful industry. So, in the same ways that I’m outspoken in music, I’m going to be outspoken in fashion, too. This is who I am. 

“In the same ways that I’m outspoken in music, I’m going to be outspoken in fashion, too”

—Scott Mescudi

WW: You’ve been vulnerable and outspoken about your mental health journey over the years, and have been explicit in supporting people in that space, too. What has your journey or evolution been like in that space?

SM: The past eight years since rehab has been great. My mental health is great. You know, things happen in life. Life is a constant turn of events. Some things make you feel good, some things bring you down. There’s always peaks and valleys. But what I’ve learned over the years is how to handle these things, how to not let them affect me in such a deep way. How to take things as they come and learn from mistakes—and with the main goal to be better.

Since I left rehab in 2016, my main goal has been being the best Scott. I don’t think I had that in mindset when I was dealing with things when I was younger, struggling to find peace and to find myself. I was very lost. And now, I’m 40 years old. When I think about myself at even 32, you know, it’s night and day. I’m a much more positive person and I have these tools now to help me handle situations when they come. I’m not going to let something ruin my week or destroy me in such a way where I can’t move on with my life and be happy. And that’s a personal choice that I’ve made internally. That’s the one thing people have to understand. At the end of the day, you have to make the choice to say, “I’m done with this and you want to be better.” It wasn’t until then, when I started to have that mindset, that things got better for me. It’s that mindset with doing the work—doing the internal growth. 

A Personal Relationship with Art

WW: The way you’ve processed struggle, sat with it, turned it into art, and made it an inspirational source for others is similar to how some of the fine artists we interview have turned lemons into lemonade, as they say. You have an appreciation for some of these artists and their work, collecting pieces by Takashi Murakami, KAWS, Campana Brothers, Sean Norvet, Daniel Arsham, OSEANWORLD, and more. How did you initially get interested in art? 

SM: I think started it when I was in high school, going to museums. Then, when I finally hit my New York years is when I discovered KAWS and Takashi Murakami. It really opened up this whole new world for me. I used to draw a lot when I was a kid. That was always my thing. Anybody that knew me knew that I was going do something in the arts. A lot of people probably thought I was going to be a cartoonist or something like that. And you know, when I met Brian [Donnelly], I saw so much of myself in him, and we hit it off right away. I thought, “Wow, this is a guy that’s very similar to me. Very humble. He’s not into all the glitz and glamour. He just wants to do his work.” I really connected with that. I was like, “Yo, that’s me.” I know I’m Kid Cudi, but I just kind of want to be this dude. I want to be the guy that’s just chilling, you know? That’s what I always loved about Brian. He’s just a dude. So chill, so humble, and he does phenomenal work. The same thing with Murakami. He’s a super humble, super fun guy. 

That’s the thing. I love having art in the crib—waking up, seeing art on the walls. I have companions and figurines and Murakami paintings and all sorts of stuff all through my house. I want to grow my collection. I’m running out of places to put art in my house.

I’ve always been a fan of art, whether it’s painting or fashion or movies. It’s all art to me. It all requires a skill set—a skill level that is set at a very high bar. That’s another thing that I love. It’s one of reasons why I love athletes so much. I’m not an athlete, but I can admire an athlete because of the amount of work that it takes to be a specimen at the top of your game to win championships. It’s impressive. There’s a certain level of dedication to the craft. That’s why I’m so dedicated to mine. I want to be known as one of the top artists, the top creators, when it’s all said and done. 

“I love having art in the crib—waking up, seeing art on the walls”

—Scott Mescudi

Takashi Murakami, Jesus, 2009-2011, photo by Brett Bushell, courtesy of Scott Mescudi.