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Travis Scott has always given Kid Cudi his flowers, and he highlights Cudder once again on Thursday (Jan. 29) for inspiring him to feel seen in hip-hop and like he could actually make it one day as a rapper.
Scott sat down with Rolling Stone for the publication’s My Life in 10 Songs video series, La Flame listed Cudi’s “Soundtrack 2 My Life” at No. 7 and explained how the 2009 Man on the Moon: The End of Day anthem made Trav feel like he was “brothers” with the Ohio rapper.
“It’s just the soundtrack to my life,” he began. “From 0:00 to the end of the song, I felt like we were brothers or something. We live like the same life. I think that s—t came out in ’09 and I was a senior in high school. I was like, ‘You know what, I could probably make it.’ People gotta understand, Cudi came out and was moving albums and s—t. To me, I was like, ‘Wow, people are really resonating with this.’”
Scott also remembered going to a Kid Cudi show, which featured Asher Roth as an opener, for one of the first concerts he ever attended.
“He had the LED screen and it was this black-and-white thing and the shadow and he walked out of the LED screen,” the Houston native recalled. “I remember looking around like people are really receptive to this guy’s story. I was like, ‘Okay, people will hopefully understand the story I got to tell.’”
The lore goes even deeper for Travis Scott. The Scott part of his stage name is inspired by Kid Cudi’s real name, Scott Mescudi.
Travis would end up working with Cudi for the first time on 2016’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight standout “Thru the Late Night.”
They joined forces for a handful of collaborations in later years, including the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “THE SCOTTS” as well as UTOPIA‘s “LOOOVE,” “Baptized in Fire,” “Get Off Me” and “At the Party.”
Elsewhere in Scott’s top 10, the 34-year-old listed tracks from artists like Kanye West, BJÖRK, Bon Iver, Fun, James Blake, Portishead, Z-Ro and Aphex Twin.
Watch the full video below.
