What links Kid Cudi to Serena Williams and Harley Quinn?
Between the moon and New York city
Rapper Kid Cudi gets around, with many genre-bending ventures and an extensive acting career. This year he appeared (under his real name, Scott Mescudi) in indie slasher film X, co-produced by his company Mad Solar. Next comes Entergalactic, a new album and animated Neftlix series, which he co-created and in which he voices the lead character. (Others involved include Timothée Chalamet, Laura Harrier, Ty Dolla $ign, Vanessa Hudgens and Macaulay Culkin.) He’s also touring at the moment, reaching the UK in November.
Pursuit of unhappiness
… collaborated on Kanye West’s Man on the Moon: The End of Day … Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Cudi has been embroiled in a rolling beef with Kanye West. I think it’s got something to do with Cudi’s friend Pete Davidson’s short-lived romance with Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s ex-wife. Any which way, it wasn’t always thus: in 2007 Kanye signed Cudi to his GOOD Music label and the pair were regular collaborators, beginning on the latter’s 2009 album Man on the Moon: The End of Day.
Common links
… as did MC Common, who once dated Serena Williams … Photograph: Patrick/Redferns
Another rapper on that record was one of Chicago’s finest MCs, Common. In the late 2000s, Common dated tennis superstar Serena Williams; she later moved on to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. They married in 2017.
A strong forehand
… whose father Richard was played on screen by Will Smith, who at the Oscars smacked Chris Rock … Photograph: WireImage
Not content with dominating tennis, Williams is no stranger to pop culture: she was in an episode of ER and a Beyoncé video, among other cameos. She and Venus did their bit to burnish the family legacy by overseeing the biopic of father/coach Richard – the well-received King Richard. Less good for anyone’s legacy was Will Smith’s turn at this year’s Oscars – he won best actor in the film’s title role but also smacked host Chris Rock in the face. It generated a few headlines.
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Voice notes
… who has been dating Lake Bell, who appeared with Kid Cudi in How to Make it in America. Photograph: WireImage
Recently Rock has been seen dating Lake Bell, who wrote, directed and starred in the enjoyable 2013 comedy about voiceover artists, In a World. Lately, like everyone else, Bell’s been drawn into the comic-book world, voicing a character in the animated Harley Quinn series. In 2010 she and Kid Cudi appeared in HBO comedy-drama How to Make it in America, about creative types running around in New York. Flash forward to Entergalatic, and Cudi and Jessica Williams play two young artists falling in love and running around a more animated New York.
Pairing notes
Watch Scott Mescudi was in the excellent ensemble cast for Luca Guadagnino’s mini-series We Are Who We Are. Underrated at the time, it can still be revisited on iPlayer.
Eat When it comes to tour snacks, Cudi once revealed he loves tacos in LA and the “Italian spud” in Chicago.