Kid Cudi and Kanye West rebuilding friendship

Kanye West has found himself in beef with quite a few of his peers and some of them used to be friends. Kid Cudi is one of West's most high-profile former friends and collaborators. However, it appears a reconciliation could be forthcoming. Kid Cudi spoke to Billboard and said that he and West are rebuilding their friendship. Let's talk hip-hop.

Key Facts at a Glance

What Did Kid Cudi Say About Kanye West?

Cudi answered a fan on July 19 and said the two are rebuilding their friendship. He reached out to check on West a week earlier; West returned the call the day of the post.

No work talk, by Cudi's own description. Just two people asking how the other is doing. When the fan pushed on whether new music might follow, Cudi didn't close the door.

That framing matters more than a studio announcement would. This is the first time in years either one has described the relationship as active rather than over.

How Did the Kanye West and Kid Cudi Beef Start?

The break traces to West objecting publicly to Cudi's friendship with Pete Davidson, who had dated West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian and was in his own online war with West at the time.

West then pulled Cudi's contributions off DONDA 2. Weeks later he withdrew from Rolling Loud, Cudi was booked to replace him, and West turned up at the festival anyway on a separate stage. Fans threw objects at Cudi mid-set. It got pretty ugly.

Cudi has said the friction ran back further than that, to West declining to contribute to his solo albums. By his 2022 Esquire cover story, he was describing reconciliation as something close to impossible.

Two more flashpoints followed the first thaw. West posted in May 2025 that he wished Cudi "hadn't testified against Puff," referring to Cudi's testimony at the Diddy trial. Cudi didn't respond publicly.

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What Did Kanye West and Kid Cudi Make Together?

I hear it regularly, people say, 'I want old Ye' back. I never knew him personally, but I can tell you his earlier works were stellar and helped define an entire era of hip-hop and music in general. His collabs with Kid Cudi were huge accomplishments from artistic standpoint, though I was more of a fan of his works with Jay-Z. In any case, burying hatchets is always a good thing.

The catalog runs deeper than most people remember. Cudi appeared on "Welcome to Heartbreak" in 2008 and "Gorgeous" in 2010, then sang on "No Mistakes" and "Ghost Town" from Ye in 2018. West paid for the first "Day 'N' Nite" video before Cudi had a record deal.

Kids See Ghosts arrived a week after Ye in June 2018, seven tracks cut at West's Wyoming ranch. "Reborn" reached the Hot 100's top 40 and has outlived the album around it.

Their last released collaboration, "Gun to My Head," landed on Vultures 2 in August 2024, months after West's apology reset things. Cudi told Zane Lowe the apology was sincere, and said what struck him was that West never apologizes to anybody.

Will Kanye West and Kid Cudi Work Together Again?

Cudi left it open without promising anything, which is the correct posture given how many times this has reversed.

The signal worth watching came in April. Cudi closed shows on his Rebel Ragers Tour with "Reborn," dedicating it to West from the stage in Phoenix. That was three months before the check-in, and it read as an olive branch at the time.

A Kids See Ghosts sequel has been fan-speculated for years without either party committing to it. Maybe their friendship isn't ghost after all.