Kid Cudi Covers Complex Magazine, Wants to Work With A$AP Rocky and Schoolboy Q

Kid Cudi might not be getting much attention from his record label, but maybe that won't matter soon. He covers Complex magazine's February/March issue and speaks at length about his new side hustle-- producing.

"I would love to produce something for [A$AP Rocky and Schoolboy Q]," he says. "Just make a beat and a hook and let them do their thing. I'm down to make a beat and let ni--as kill it. That's fun to me. I can separate myself and not feel like I'm missing out because my production is me. That's just another way of me showing off."

If Cudi's taken to beatmaking quickly, it's only because he's been in the company of the best in the business. After dropping his mixtape A Kid Named Cudi in 2008 he was signed to G.O.O.D. Music and fell under the tutelage of Kanye West. He also worked closely with his then-managers Plain Pat and Emile Haynie-- producers in their own right-- on his first two albums. And then there's Dot Da Genius, who Cudder essentially co-produced the entire WZRD album with.

"I learned how to make beats by being around Dot Da Genius, Kanye, Pat, and Emile," he says. "No one taught me anything, but I watched them and they didn't know I was watching. I was learning when I didn't even know I was learning. Then, when I started to make my own shit, I was like, 'Whoa, this feels like I've been making beats my whole life.' I used to make beats as a kid, so I was always fucking around with the shit-- never to this magnitude though."

With his newfound passion for beatmaking, Cudi expressed some sadness over the fact that he didn't contribute more to Cruel Summer.

"I was a little disappointed," he says. "But Kanye had a vision for that. Whatever that vision was didn't include much of me. [Laughs.] I was bummed because I could've contributed. I'm a good asset. But he had a different vision. Everyone that was showcased on the album did their thing and they needed that at that time."

Cudi's next album, the forthcoming Indicud, is due out in March. For now it seems a chit-chat with none other than Jay-Z has helped him put his label woes behind him, and it's back to the basics-- beats and rhymes.

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