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Kids See Ghosts, stylized in all caps, was an American hip hop duo consisting of American rappers Kanye West and Kid Cudi. It was formed in 2018 during the Wyoming Sessions, and released their first and only eponymous studio album as part of the line-up by their respective labels.

History[]

Beginnings[]

In 2006, then-aspiring artist Kid Cudi first met West in a Virgin Megastore, as Cudi recounted in a 2009 SPIN interview: “I was looking at CDs, saw the gleam of a Jesus piece in the right side of my eye, looked up, and it was Kanye West,” Cudi said, adding that he introduced himself and offered West some of his music.

Cudi would later run into West again, while Cudi was working at the BAPE store in NYC: "I remember Kanye coming in one time and I was helping him get a couple things," Cudi said. "I forgot to take a sensor off of one of the jackets he bought and I had to run out the store to catch him before he left. Pretty funny me chasing after him in SoHo."

In 2008, Cudi would get the attention of Plain Pat, West's former A&R, after a meeting at Def Jam where Cudi showcased his demo tapes, which resulted in Pat showcasing his music to West and ultimately signing him to GOOD Music a year later in 2009. During 2008, Cudi would help work on, as well as feature on West's fourth album 808s & Heartbreak.

The two worked on Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, with West serving as an executive producer. West had also produced two songs, namely "Sky Might Fall" and the Common-assisted third single "Make Her Say", which West is also featured on. As of 2018, Cudi had contributed to every West album since 2008's 808s & Heartbreak, with their 2016 effort "Father Stretch My Hands", reaching the Top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

After a brief fallout, the two reconnected in late 2016, around the dissolution of West's Saint Pablo Tour, which ended in him being hospitalized. West abruptly canceled his Saint Pablo Tour and sought hospitalization from exhaustion and sleep deprivation in November 2016. Cudi during this time had also been admitted to a rehab center due to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Formation[]

The duo would not be fully realized until West would conceive the "Wyoming Sessions". On April 19, 2018, West announced via Twitter that a collaborative album with Kid Cudi would be released in June. He followed the tweet revealing the name of the group, which also serves as title of their debut album, Kids See Ghosts. On April 22, again via Twitter, West unveiled the album artwork, which was created by Tokyo-based artist Takashi Murakami, who also created the album cover for West's third studio album Graduation. Having worked on their collaboration project since 2016, the album would wrap up its production by June 2018, and be released as part of the line-up of Wyoming Sessions. Here, the duo would be official, and Cudi stating in a 2019 Complex interview that "more Kids See Ghosts albums will be coming".

The group would also have a guest appearance at Tyler, the Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival festival, and performed a multitude of tracks in which they collaborate on, such as "Welcome to Heartbreak, "Paranoid", "Make Her Say", "Pursuit of Happiness" and "Ghost Town". At Coachella 2019, the duo performed the tracks "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1", "Feel the Love", "Reborn", "Ghost Town", and "Ghost Town Pt. 2", with 070 Shake and Ty Dolla $ign appearing as guests for their performance.

Plans of a Kids See Ghosts television series were also in the works, with a teaser trailer shown in June 2020, but the project remains shelved indefinitely.

Disbandment[]

In 2022, Cudi announced that he would cease all collaborations with West after the two had a brief back-and-forth on social media. West had announced that Cudi would not appear on Donda 2 due to Cudi's friendship with the comedian Pete Davidson, who, at the time, was having his own back-and-forth with West following his divorce with Kim Kardashian.

Cudi responded to the announcement with this statement: “Too bad I dont wanna be on ur album u fuckin dinosaur hahaha. everyone knows ive been the best thing about ur albums since i met u. Ima pray u for brother.” He would also go on Twitter and tweet: "We talked weeks ago about this. You’re whack for flipping the script and posting this lie just for a look on the internet. You ain’t no friend. BYE"

The last collaboration between the two artist was for their respective features on Pusha T's fourth album It's Almost Dry. Cudi stated that he only cleared his verse for Pusha T, but reiterated that it was his last collaboration with West.

The duo remains disbanded as of April 2022.

Discography[]

Studio album[]

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