The ongoing feud between former friends and collaborators Kanye West and Kid Cudi took another turn on Monday, when West took a shot at his erstwhile pal as part of an elaborate online dig at Pete Davidson, who reports say has ended his relationship with West’s estranged wife Kim Kardashian. (Read that sentence again: Such is the life of a virtuoso internet troll.)
The dig actually came a subheadline in a mock New York Times cover that is just the latest in West’s arguably abusive public behavior toward Davidson and Kardashian, which has ranged from verbal threats to elaborate jokes, such as West burying a Davidson effigy in the video for his song with the Game, “Eazy.” His latest “prank” came in the form of a fake headline reading “Skete Davidson Dead at 28” (“Skete” being his nickname for Davidson, derived from vulgar Chicago slang), with the bottom reading: “Kid Cudi meant to play funeral but fearful of bottle throwers.”
The Cudi mention refers to a July 22 incident during the elaborate drama around the Rolling Loud Festival, where West was originally scheduled to be a headliner but abruptly pulled out just days before the event. Cudi, with whom he was already feuding, took his place, but cut his set short after just four songs after he was pelted with water bottles by fans.
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Cudi was performing the fourth song of his set, “REVOFEV,” when what appeared to be a bottle thrown from the crowd hit him square in the face.
“Yo, I will walk off this stage if you all throw one more fucking thing up here, I will leave, I will leave right now,” he said after the impact. “Throw one more fucking thing on this stage and I’ll walk off, I’m not fucking playing. I’m not fucking playing, you will ruin it for everybody. I’ll fucking leave If I get hit with one more fucking thing, if I see one more fucking thing on this fucking stage, I’m leaving. Don’t fuck with me.” Not surprisingly, another water bottle was thrown at Cudi almost immediately, and he walked off.
Ironically, West had performed at the Rolling Loud festival after all, popping up during Lil Durk’s set on Friday, the night before he was originally scheduled to headline. The duo performed “Hot Shit,” the new Cardi B song on which they both feature, as well as West’s classic “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1.” Notably, the latter song features vocals from Cudi.
The feud, which dates back at least to early this year, seems to be due to Cudi’s friendship with Davidson. That month, Cudiannounced on Twitter that a track onPusha T’s upcoming album, “It’s Almost Dry,” would be his last song with West. Cudi and Kanye hada public falling out after West removed Cudi’s contributions on his “Donda 2” release. West co-produced with Pharrell the new Pusha T song that Cudi is featured on.
“Hey! So I know some of you heard about the song I got [with] Pusha,” Cudi wrote on his Twitter page. “I did this song a year ago when I was still cool [with] Kanye. I am not cool [with] that man. He’s not my friend and I only cleared the song for Pusha [because] that’s my guy. This is the last song you will hear me on [with] Kanye.”
