Wale says the distance between him and Kid Cudi did not happen overnight.
Instead, it grew from a mix of personal hurt, public comments, and unresolved moments that changed how he viewed someone he once considered close.
The tension, according to Wale, began to set in long before fans realized anything was wrong. He remembered how much it shook him to see Cudi publicly criticize him during a time when he already felt uncertain about his place in the industry. That moment marked a shift that he says he never fully came back from.
“I don’t talk to Cudi… I don’t harbor nothing, but I really felt like they kicked me when I was down,” Wale said.
The comments he referenced came from Cudi’s 2010 Complex cover story. In that interview, Cudi responded to a question about Wale with a blunt message that Wale says landed harder than expected.
“Then people like Wale get mad that ‘Ye ain’t give him no beats ‘Ye ain’t give you no beats because we ain’t fucking with your raps,” Cudi said. “It’s not a conspiracy theory. We don’t fuck with you musically, so we’re not going to provide music for you.”
For Wale, the problem was not just the criticism. It was the fact that it came from someone he thought understood him. He said they used to share the same circles and move in the same spaces, so hearing Cudi address him like that publicly cut deeper.
“We used to run together… and you going to say something like that to Complex, which is kind of like my direct fan base? That joint fucked me up… like it really did,” he said.
Even after that, Wale said he was willing to repair things. He recalled being at Rick Ross house when Cudi called. Ross nudged them toward making music together, which led to Cudi sending vocals for the song Focused. Wale assumed there would be more work done on the track.
“He did the vocals over the phone… and I’m like, ‘We’ll fix it when it gets close to the album.’ But he couldn’t be bothered to fix the vocals properly,” Wale explained.
Those phone vocals ended up on the final version, which he said is the reason he has never performed the song live.
The strain between them only deepened as the years went on. Wale shared a moment from around 2015-2016 when he invited Cudi to a personal event. Cudi’s response, Wale said, felt cold and dismissive, and it changed the tone of their relationship for good.
“He was like, ‘Everybody just wants me to do everything for them.’” Wale continued. “I was like, let’s fight… like, now it’s not even no industry thing. It’s not even a cold war. You[‘re] this person, and you talking to me like that? Let’s do it.”
What followed was a long period where Wale wrestled with anger and resentment. Seeing Cudi receive empathy during widely publicized mental health struggles reminded Wale of the grace he felt he never got for his own battles, even though he believed their situations bore similarities.
“It was really bad for a couple years… how I felt about him and how I felt about the grace he would get for struggling, and I was going through the same stuff and I ain’t there getting nothing,” Wale said. “That joint was boiling my blood.”
With time, he said the anger faded. He has reached a place where he is no longer dwelling on their past or the pain tied to it.
He added, “Now I’m on some everybody, it’s kumbaya. I ain’t trying to keep harboring these feelings. But I was hot for some time.”
