12. Kid CudiPassion, Pain & Demon Slayin’
I always had Kid Cudi on the periphery in many ways, I had always been listening to his sort of peripheral collaborative stuff, and I could hear his influence on lots of other music, like on Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreaks, and there was so much Kid Cudi love around. Then he dropped this record that I listened to on repeat when it came out in 2016, and it just solidified my Kid Cudi fandom a lot. ‘Frequency’ and ‘All In’ and ‘Releaser’, there’s songs on here that were really driving a passion. In 2016 in New York, I was still building myself, I was still hustling, and it was giving me a place for my 20s New York City grind and all the range of emotions there. It was really one of those records that makes you feel strong while also holding the angst – it’s not even angst anymore because you’re not a teenager, it’s actually just real. You’re like, “Wow, the world actually is bullshit. This is hard. But I’m gonna make it. I’m going to do whatever it takes.” And so yeah, Passion, Pain and Demon Slayin’ – even the title of the record really resonated.
