"I always knew I was different," says 26 year-old MC and songwriter Kid Cudi. "I just embraced it instead of wondering what people would think." For the past three years, this Cleveland, Ohio native (born Scott Mescudi) has been holed up in a Brooklyn studio turning his worldview into a musical signature, mixing clever, melodic flows with indelible hooks that owe as much to alternative rock records as hip-hop classics.

"They define my lifestyle as a wild life wit style."