Rapper/actor Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi is a longtime mental health advocate. He’s been open about his battles with depression and anxiety, hoping his story will help others.
According to Vogue, on Monday, he was the keynote speaker at a dinner for New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Youth Anxiety Center, and he explained to the young people in attendance how music helped him deal with his emotions.
“Before I actually had therapy, the music was there for me,” Cudi said. “It was the perfect way to express myself and feel safe doing it. I’m always asking my daughter if she’s cool. I’m always checking in with her. That’s important. I feel like that’s good for our connection.”
Cudi didn’t want to add more stress to his mom’s plate, so he kept his feelings to himself—using music to cope.
“It was one of those things where it was just like: How do you come up to Mom who’s dealing with four kids, and your dad died, and she’s taking care of everybody on her own, that you’re dealing with something,” he said.
Now as an adult, Cudi has learned better ways to stay healthy. One of those is to focus on his 11-year-old daughter’s acceptance and no one else’s.
“Everything that I’m about, she’s about,” he explained. “This is a taste of the next generation. She accepts me for as wild and rock and roll as I am… At no point has my daughter ever asked me why I paint my nails. She thinks they’re cool. I don’t care what anybody says when my daughter thinks it’s dope.”
It’s been a busy week for Mescudi, as Netflix also announced the voice cast for his upcoming animated series Entergalactic. Per Variety, Cudi is “Jabari, a young, passionate artist who moves into his dream apartment next door to Meadow (Jessica Williams), a stylish and self-assured photographer. The show follows the two as they meet, develop a relationship and navigate their respective careers together.”
Mescudi and Williams are joined by Timothée Chalamet (Dune), Ty Dolla $ign, Laura Harrier (Mike), Jaden Smith (The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder), Keith David (Nope), Teyana Taylor (Coming 2 America), and Macaulay Culkin.
In addition to the series, there will also be an Entergalactic album featuring longtime Cudi collaborators Dot da Genius and Plain Pat. There is no release date for the series or album.