Kid Cudi Opens Up About His Fractured Relationship With Ye: ‘It’s a Sad Thing’

Welcome to heartbreak. Kid Cudi and Ye (formerly Kanye West) had a close bond in the late 2000s and well into the 2010s, but that magic is gone. Cudi joined CBS Mornings on Wednesday (Aug. 13), where he discussed his fractured relationship with Yeezy.

“It’s a sad thing,” Cudi explained. “The freedom we experienced when we were creating, it will just never happen again, and that’s just the heartbreaking side of things.”

The Cleveland rapper said that West left him heartbroken “multiple times.” “Just the code of a friendship,” he added. Kid Cudi even shared they’ve tried to revive their friendship on different occasions, but “[Ye’s] said some things that there’s no coming back from.”

Cudi got specific about how much West’s comments criticizing Virgil Abloh, the late Louis Vuitton designer, after his death irked him.

“The comments that he’s had about Virgil Abloh are just some of the most evil, vile, disturbing, f–ked-up things I’ve heard,” he said. “Every time he took a dig at Virgil, it just made me super angry. Virgil was an angel to everyone.”

While he considered Ye a “really good friend” at one point in their lives, that ship has sailed, as Cudi’s “done” with him now and doesn’t recognize the guy he was once tight with.

“There’s no coming back from that, man,” Cudi continued of his Kids See Ghosts collaborator. “I’m done with you. And it breaks my heart because I loved Kanye. I really loved him. He was part of my life changing and at some point, he was a really good friend, but the man that he has become … I just don’t know that guy anymore. I don’t know him. I don’t know that version of him, and it’s really heartbreaking.”

Ye — who in recent years has faced criticism and consequences for his repeated hate speech — helped usher Cudi to stardom with his contributions to 2008’s 808s & Heartbreak album. A decade later, they finally reunited for a true joint project with 2019’s Kids See Ghosts.

While they had their falling outs and reconciliations in the past — see their memorable reunion on stage in Sacramento in November 2016, for example — the duo appears to be done for good, at least from Cudi’s side.

Cudi’s memoir arrived on Tuesday (Aug. 12), and he’s preparing the release of his Free album on Aug. 22. Watch his full interview with CBS Mornings below.