In a series of videos posted to his Instagram Stories, Kid Cudi fired back at Jim Jones after Jones claimed he was responsible for Cudi’s rise to fame by remixing his breakout song, “Day n Nite.”
“I see something online that I have to address,” Cudi said. “Jim Jones… first of all, we love Jim Jones. I grew up on Jimmy, he’s the homie. I met him when I was coming up, he was cool, right? But Jimmy, I’m going to talk to you directly, my n***a. You saying you’re responsible for my success is a lie. You need to stop lying to people. You go on your little podcast, start gossiping and talking shit, and the people on your podcast don’t know the truth, so they just agree with you. But if you look at the comments under that post, people are letting you know what time it is.”
Cudi added that this isn’t the first time Jones has made the claim, saying it “breaks my heart” to see him repeating it again.
“‘Day n Nite’ was already a hit before you touched it, my n***a,” he said. “I put it on my MySpace and it blew up. I had a whole mixtape. I was already on my way. Motown was courting me. Kanye wanted to sign me — all because of ‘Day n Nite’ blowing up on MySpace. I promise you Sylvia Rhone did not hear your remix and decide to sign me. That’s not how I got my deal, bro. None of what you’re saying is true. How do you think I already had a music video? I was already shooting it. I was already on. You saw a hit record and jumped on it.”
He went on to tell Jones to “stop telling these tales,” while thanking fans who pushed back against the claims. “It’s wild how people try to take credit for my success,” he said. “And I like Jimmy, which is why it hurts to hear him trying to take credit for something he wasn’t part of. You jumped on my record. I didn’t ask you to. I was an international artist from the jump. I already had the world.”
Cudi’s response follows Jones’ recent appearance on the NoRapCapPodcast, where he suggested that no one knew who Kid Cudi was before his remix of “Day n Nite.”
“That’s how y’all know Kid Cudi,” Jones said. “You wouldn’t have known Kid Cudi if I didn’t remix that record in New York City. Nobody knew who he was.”
Jones claimed that video directors approached him about shooting a music video and showed him the “Day n Nite” visual. “They showed me this kid on a roof with a record called ‘Day n Nite.’ He worked in the store under the label,” Jones said. “I told them I liked the song and wanted to remix it. I said, ‘Give me the record, I’ll let y’all shoot my video.’ I got the beat, and it became the biggest record in New York City. And that’s how Kid Cudi became an artist.”
He finished by implying that Cudi landed “a big deal off of Jim Jones’ back.”
There are three official music videos for “Day n Nite,” including one directed by French filmmaker So Me and another created for the Crookers remix. A third version, shot by director duo BBGUN, was actually filmed before the other two but wasn’t released until 2009. The song began gaining momentum in 2007 after Cudi uploaded it to his MySpace page, which caught the attention of the artist formerly known as Kanye West, who signed him to GOOD Music later that year.
“Day n Nite” was officially released as a commercial single in February 2008 through GOOD Music, Fool’s Gold, Universal Motown, and Data. Jim Jones’ remix didn’t drop until October of that same year. Jones had previously made similar claims about the remix back in 2022.
