On October 5, 2016, Kid Cudi announced that he had checked himself into rehab for “depression and suicidal urges.” It was a highly-publicized event widely regarded as a watershed moment for the discussion of mental health in hip-hop, but in a new Esquire profile, Cudi revealed a new, terrifying wrinkle to the story: two weeks into his stay, Cudi was hospitalized after suffering a stroke.
Cudi says the stroke impacted his speech and movement and required physical therapy in the months that followed. It wasn't until he auditioned for Lobby Hero, a 2017 Broadway play with Michael Cera, that he felt as though he had recovered. “I proved to myself that I could do it.
I needed that at the time,” Cudi told Esquire. “I was happy. Like, damn, my brain is still strong. I didn’t lose something in that shit that happened.” Read Next: Mike Dean claims he was dropped from Kid Cudi-curated festival The full profile also touches on Cudi's upcoming animated Netflix show and album Entergalactic, out this September, as well as the end of his friendship with Kanye West.
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