--- title: Kanye West Claps Back at Former Protege Kid Cudi For Tweets description: Kanye West gave a spirited response to Kid Cudi's tweets that allege that Drake and Yeezy are using ghostwriters. canonical: https://time.com/4495022/kanye-west-kid-cudi-tweets-response-video/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T15:46:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:38.574Z og:title: Kanye West Responds to Kid Cudi's Ghostwriting Allegations og:description: "Kid Cudi, don't never mention ’Ye name. I birthed you." og:url: https://time.com/4495022/kanye-west-kid-cudi-tweets-response-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd668038b87b4d51d/6988a6390b72e3bcbe6eb03d/kanye-west-kid-cudi-feud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Kanye West In Concert - New York, NY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kanye West Responds to Kid Cudi's Ghostwriting Allegations twitter:description: "Kid Cudi, don't never mention ’Ye name. I birthed you." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd668038b87b4d51d/6988a6390b72e3bcbe6eb03d/kanye-west-kid-cudi-feud.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kanye West Claps Back at Former Protégé Kid Cudi: 'I Birthed You' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e72f39fc-566b-46f6-b5b7-479f0d29a330&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kanye West on Why He Doesn't Care About His Legacy [Watch (HLS stream): Kanye West on Why He Doesn't Care About His Legacy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hQZVDnKU.m3u8) (3:58)  _Published 2015-04-16. “Every time I say something that’s extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the internet. So what are we getting all of the rest of the time?” asks West, the rapper and designer._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 15, 2016 3:46 PM UTC  Kanye West performs during The Saint Pablo Tour at Madison Square Garden on September 5, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images) Kanye West performs during The Saint Pablo Tour at Madison Square Garden on September 5, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images) Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 15, 2016 3:46 PM UTC [Self-proclaimed greatest artist of all time](http://time.com/4196396/kanye-west-wiz-khalifa-twitter-spree/) [Kanye West](http://time.com/3822841/kanye-west-2015-time-100/) took to his [floating stage at his Wednesday night concert during the _Saint Pablo_ tour](http://time.com/4489903/kanye-west-fan-floating-stage/) 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](http://time.com/4440959/drakes-hot-97-funkmaster-flex-joe-budden/) and that their loyalty leaves something to be desired. > [](https://twitter.com/KidCudi/status/776091930610458624) Despite [getting rid of his phone a few days earlier](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/776036244010766336), 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”](https://soundcloud.com/dp16/kid-cudi-announces-he-is-no). 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](http://time.com/4198073/kanye-west-wiz-khalifa-twitter-shakespeare/). Watch Kanye’s full response to Kid Cudi below. > [](https://twitter.com/iDailyRapFacts/status/776253080979603456) > [](https://twitter.com/BGs%5Ffinest/status/776254887529185280) > [](https://twitter.com/AlaskasVeryOwn/status/776252157133778944) ## Transcript Every time I crash the internet it's like, this little drop of truth. Every time I say something that's extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the internet. So what are we getting all of the rest of the time? [ MUSIC ] I don't care about having a legacy. I don't care about. Being remembered. Cuz the most important thing to me is like, while I'm here, while we're having fun, while we're going to sleep and breathing oxygen and living life, and falling in love, and having pain, and having joy, is like what can I do? What can I do with my voice? What can we do for each other to make life easier? To make life doper for our kids, you know, as they grow? You know, we were. Born into a broken world and we're like the clean- up crew, you know? [ MUSIC ] My mother made me believe in me. When I was growing up, I wanted to make video games. My mom got this Amiga computer when I was in seventh grade and had. 4, 096 colors. I found myself running home to use this sound program that allowed me to play a note. It would stay. Plays another note, it would stay. It plays another note, it would stay. And that's how I learned how to produce in seventh grade. And I was just really making the music to make video. Dreams. They just let me dream. They supported me. They pushed me. They didn't set me up to be inside of a, a box. What's the main thing that makes magic magic. The fact that no one believes it's possible. [ MUSIC ] When I entered the fashion world and I encountered a lot of elitism and all that, it just made me happy. It was something fun, we had the entire world against us. It was like absolutely no allies whatsoever, you know what I mean? It was like the world was against us. The pressure of that was like crazy. It was like a Superbowl. I remember sitting there with my fashion publicist Deborah, and we were supposed to do the Reese's. This is the thing with the editors after the show. They come back to see it and see if they like the collection. And we had, like, two or three people that came to see it and take a picture with Kanye and blah blah, all this type of stuff. I said, do we have any more editors coming? And Debra just looked and says, no. No one else is coming. And I looked at her and said. This is great! Remember this moment cuz it won't always be like this. Embrace this moment where no one came to see the collection. I take, you know, things that people look at as a negative as an inspiration to do. Something better. [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] I think there's school teachers that are the, the exact same mission as, as me. I think there's police officers with the exact same mission. As me. Just help. Just do everything you got. Give everything you got. And, you know, our focus needs to be less about what our le -. Legacy is gonna be or how we're gonna control each other. But more how can we can give to each other. 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