Kanye West Claps Back at Former Protégé Kid Cudi: ‘I Birthed You’

Self-proclaimed greatest artist of all time Kanye West took to his floating stage at his Wednesday night concert during the Saint Pablo tour to share feelings that seemed to run the gamut from anger to deep hurt about his former protégé and frequent collaborator Kid Cudi.

Kanye’s impassioned speech came in the wake of a bitter string of tweets from Cudi, where he alleged that West and rapper Drake used ghostwriters and that their loyalty leaves something to be desired.

Despite getting rid of his phone a few days earlier, it appears that Yeezy saw the public tweets that Kid Cudi sent out on Wednesday afternoon and proceeded to wax emotionally — about them during his song with Chief Keef, “Don’t Like.”

“Kid Cudi, don’t never mention ’Ye name,” he said. “I birthed you. We all dealing with that evil sh-t all the time. Don’t ever mention ‘Ye name.’ Don’t try to say who I can do songs with. You mad ’cause I’m doing songs with Drake? Ain’t nobody tellin’ ‘Ye who to do songs with. Respect the god.”

He continued:

“Do you know how many people wish they could be signed to G.O.O.D. music, get their life changed, have an opportunity? Never forget that! I am so hurt. I feel so disrespected,” he said. “Kid Cudi, we’re two black men in a racist world. I wore skinny jeans first. I got called names before you, bruh. Why y’all gotta be coming at me? This ain’t the end of the Malcolm X movie. I’m out here fighting for y’all: creatives, artists, independent thinkers. Don’t never mention my name in a bad manner, none of y’all.”

Cudi’s mixtape was discovered by West in 2008, and he was subsequently signed to GOOD Music, where he remained on until 2013, when he left amicably, saying that ‘Ye was his “big brother forever”. The two were frequent collaborators, with Cudi often garnering significant songwriting credits and features on West’s albums like 808s and Heartbreak and The Life of Pablo. West even went so far as to namecheck Cudi during his 2016 beef with rapper Wiz Khalifa.

Watch Kanye’s full response to Kid Cudi below.