I know that Kid Cudi is a rap artist. I know that he was responsible for the hit single and one of my favorites, “Day N Night.” I know that he recently released another album, Man on the Moon, Vol. II: The Legend of Mr. Rager. And now you know all that I know.
What I did not know was that Kid Cudi has recently announced his retirement from rapping to be in a rock band.
“I’m just over rapping […] I don’t get any fulfillment out of it anymore. I just get more fulfillment out of singing now. I’m teaching myself the guitar, that’s like my newfound love,” Cudi said. “I just never thought that I could play an instrument […] picked it up, just surprised myself. It’s been two and a half months I’ve been playing. I’m doing a band called ‘Wizard.'”
Cudi, according to other recent news, is already talking about focusing on his acting career. HBO’s new show, entitled “How to Make It in America,” features information about his career struggles.
“I’m trying to evenly balance them out right now, but eventually I want to leave behind music and just do acting,” Cudi said. “Once the story is told [musically], there’s nothing else to say.”
That’s exactly how the Kid Cudi rap groupies are feeling: speechless.
Many would say that Cudi “pulled a Michael Jordan.”
The sports world was astounded when Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA in 1993, then signed a contract to play minor league baseball. He stated that this decision was due to the dream of his father, who was murdered earlier that year. His father had always envisioned Jordan as a Major League Baseball athlete.
He had a brief professional baseball career for the Birmingham Barons and also played for the Scottsdale Scorpions.
In 1995, Michael Jordan returned to the NBA and played well as the basketball athlete that we all remembered him to be.
Kid Cudi may retire from rapping soon for a time, but I have no doubt that he will return to the thing that made him famous, just like Jordan did.
To give another example of popular musicians “straying from the herd” that is the music business, I’ll use Miley Cyrus. Once “America’s Sweetheart,” Cyrus reached fame (other than by being born to a famous father — singer Billy Ray Cyrus) after landing the role of the lead character in the hit television show “Hannah Montana”.
Not only has she completely shed the image of sweetheart, dancing provocatively and dressing seductively, she now retires from the show that rocketed her to stardom.
The media just can’t seem to stay away from 17-year-old Cyrus, who now says she wants to work on her film career. Her three movies in production are “LOL: Laughing Out Loud,” “Wings” and “Wake”.
My question is, why can’t celebrities just make up their minds?
I’m not an obsessed fan of Kid Cudi, but I’m a fan. He is a great rapper. I’m not heartbroken that he is retiring, but it makes me wonder. He did so much greatness, but it wasn’t enough?
I would not be lying when I say Michael Jordan was before my time, or the year after I was born, at least. I did grow up loving his movie, “Space Jam.” I heard his name everywhere. He tried the baseball dream for his father, but he went right back to basketball. Was his love of the game just too strong?
Becca Horton is a freshman majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].