Shots fired! Kanye West clapped back at former protégé Kid Cudi on stage during a Tampa, Florida, concert Wednesday, September 14, hours after the “Day ’n’ Nite” rapper, 32, took aim at Yeezy, 39, in a string of heated tweets. (See what started the feud in the video above.)
West paused midperformance during “I Don’t Like” to address the drama. “Kid Cudi, don’t ever mention ‘Ye name. I birthed you. We all dealing with that emo s–t all the time — me, Pat, Don C. Don’t ever mention ‘Ye name,” he warned during Wednesday night’s Saint Pablo tour stop. “Don’t try to say who I can do songs with. You mad ’cause I’m doing songs with Drake? Ain’t nobody telling ‘Ye who to do songs with! Respect the God!”
West and Cudi’s professional relationship began in 2008 after the “Stronger” MC heard Cudi’s mixtape A Kid Named Cudi and signed the hip-hop rookie to his G.O.O.D. Music label. Though West once championed his career, Cudi left the mogul’s label in 2013.
On Wednesday, Cudi (real name: Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi) took to social media to air his grievances with not only West but Drake as well. In one tweet, he lashed out at the chart-toppers by writing, “These n–gas don’t give a f–k about me. And they ain’t f–kin with me.”
In another pointed tweet, Mescudi slammed the entire hip-hop community. “I’ve been loyal to those who haven’t been to me and that ends now,” he wrote. “Now I’m your threat.”
During his Wednesday night show, West told his fans that he was “so hurt” and felt “so disrespected” by his former mentee. “You know how many people wish they could be signed to G.O.O.D. Music, get they life changed? Have that opportunity? Never forget that. I’m so hurt. I feel so disrespected,” he said. “Kid Cudi, we’re two black men in a racist world. I wore skinny jeans first. I got called names before you, bruh. Why y’all got to come at me?”
He concluded: “This ain’t the end of the Malcolm X movie. I’m out here fighting for y’all: creatives, artists, independent thinkers. Don’t never mention my name in a bad manner. None of y’all!”
