One of the few highlights of 2020 has been Kid Cudi’s gradual return to new music — as a lead artist! And on July 11, fans were treated to yet another release, this time in the form of a collaboration with Eminem, 47, called “The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady.” It was the first time the chart-topping hip hop artists linked up for a track, and they proved they make the ultimate dream team.
Both Kid Cudi and Eminem showed off their talented gifts with wordplay and flow in their long verses. But fun rhymes aside, Eminem also made sure to touch on one of the most prevalent issues in America right now: police brutality. “Friends to George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery / How the f–k is it that so many cops are dirty / Stop man please officer I’m sorry but I can’t breathe when I got you on top of me your goddamn knees on my carotid artery,” Eminem breathlessly rapped.
This was a direct reference to how former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against George’s neck despite the unarmed Black man saying he couldn’t breathe. George died shortly afterwards on May 25, sparking a resurgence in the Black Lives Matter movement. Before George’s tragic death, Ahmaud was a 25-year-old Black man who went for a jog in a South Georgia neighborhood and was chased down by two armed white men: Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34. Ahmaud was shot to death on Feb. 23.
And now a word from Princess Vada the chosen… pic.twitter.com/xmgIMkUntz
— The Chosen One (@KidCudi) July 8, 2020
Kid Cudi’s own 10-year-old daughter, Vada Wamwene Mescudi, was the first to tease of this collab. “Hi! It’s Vada, I’m here to say that my daddy’s new single, ‘The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady,’ is coming on Friday! Check it out!,” Kid Cudi’s daughter adorably announced in a Twitter video shared on July 8.
Now, we just patiently await for Kid Cudi’s LP Entergalactic, a concept album that will serve as the soundtrack for an animated Netflix series that Black-ish creator Kenya Barris is executive producing. Kid Cudi made the big announcement in July of 2019, tweeting at the time, “Entergalactic will be something you’ve never experienced. I promise it’ll be a fun ride. Lot of good friends involved. Great songs too! The cast is coming together. I know a year from now seems like forever but itll be here before u know it!”
Entergalactic will be something you've never experienced. I promise it'll be a fun ride. Lot of good friends involved. Great songs too! The cast is coming together. I know a year from now seems like forever but itll be here before u know it!
— The Chosen One (@KidCudi) July 22, 2019
As for the album itself, Kid Cudi told Complex in Sept. 2019, “A lot of the songs are about love and relationships. I’m not in a relationship right now, so it’s purely written from my imagination and writing as this character. That was something that was exciting to me because, after Kids See Ghosts [Kid Cudi’s hip hop duo with Kanye West], I felt like I said all I had to say… about the point where I’m at right now, post-rehab. And Kids See Ghosts was that album for me.”
Since then, Kid Cudi released “Leader Of The Delinquents,” his first time putting out a solo song since his 2016 LP Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’. Aside from his solo music, in April of 2020 he also dropped “The Scotts” as part of the hip hop duo of the same name with Travis Scott.