Changing the Game

Whether you’re a fan or think he’s got an overblown ego, there are plenty of reasons to admire Kid Cudi.

First, this guy is supremely confident in his abilities. He once told Billboard magazine that as “far as creativity, pound for pound, track for track, video for video, hands down, there’s nobody f@*king with me and [Kanye West].” Secondly, the dude’s willing to ’fess up about his screw-ups. Cudi once revealed that he was dropped off Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour after taking a swing at a fan in the audience—and was told that Her Royal Fame Monster didn’t want that sort of “negative energy” onboard.

He’s spoken very publicly about his cocaine use—and once admitted to spending a night in jail because of “criminal mischief.”

Last year, while performing a show he took some time between songs to tell fans that he was “missing a lot of shit” and not focusing on the crucial things in life: “My family, my business, things that are important.”

And Cudi’s not above re-inventing himself. Sometimes radically so.

For example, after revealing his coke and jail issues, the Lonely Stoner last year decided he wanted to go completely straight edge—and this included cannabis (he announced this on April 21—insert irony here). Big reinvention.

Cudi feeds on being creative, and even though the guy could make a mint coming out with his own line of sneakers or hoodies (you know, the obvious route) he decided to diversify his portfolio by starring in the short-lived (and Mark Wahlberg-executive produced) HBO series How to Make it in America.

Again, Mr. Rager kept switchin‘ things up.

More recently, Cudi decided he wanted to take a break from rapping, and so he put down the mic . . . and picked up a guitar. Teaming up with producer Dot Da Genius, the rapper-turned-rocker busted out with a psychedelic rock album entitled WZRD. “I know it’s hard for people to follow along with an artist like me, because I can do so much and have so many different styles,” he told Complex magazine. Cudi takes risks, takes the path of most resistance and tries new things.

Kid Cudi sounds a lot like CULTURE (except for the no-marijuana thing). You’ve gotta reinvent yourself from time to time to keep things fresh, keep folks guessing. When CULTURE first launched in 2009, we reinvented the whole cannabis magazine game. Now, we are on top of the game and we are so much more than a magazine. We’re a website. A merch store. A business. A lifestyle. A source of information. A helpmate. An industry supporter. A political ally. A team of creatives—like Cudi—hungry for the Next Big Thing.

As our readers, fans and followers can attest, CULTURE has been evolving since Day One. Any good source of medical cannabis information  must—not only to be competitive in today’s marketplace of ideas—but to better serve the patients and professionals we keep informed and up-to-day.

Naturally, any sort of reinvention can be scary, even challenging. But you make yourself unique, or as Cudi put it when describing WZRD, “Nobody else is doing what we do. That being said, it’s an alternative to everything else because there’s no one else like us.”

So, crack open this new issue, read up on our exclusive Kid Cudi interview, visit our website, follow us on Twitter . . . and be part of what we do every day here at CULTURE.

We’re an alternative to everything else because there’s no one else like us.