Hollywood Popular Artists

Apr 23rd 2013, 18:35

Bimonthly, we'll take an artist on the rise on the MTV Music Meter and, to help you discover them a little more, detail some of their philanthropic tendencies -- from Mika to Ellie Goulding. This week: Kid Cudi!

Kid Cudi's back on the scene with his third full-length album, Indicud, and the versatile artist is leaving his "solo dolo" days behind him. With a brand new record and a brand new 'tude, Cudi's no longer in the "Pursuit Of Happiness" -- he's found it. Here's how.

+ Self-Confidence

When Complex mag asked what makes this album different from the first two, Cudi replied, "I'm so confident in who I am. I love who I am as a person and that's really what it is. The whole aspect of Indicud is to show my new confident self. I don't think any of my other albums had that confident tone. I wanted to express the new head space I was in -- stronger, more confident, more positive and just like a leader."

On being an outsider, Cudi explains, "It's a hard road to go down. When you're doing things that haven't been done yet, you're going to get some backlash." Many of us have been bullied for being different, but if we persist like Cudi did, the things that people criticize may someday become the things they praise us for.

+ Social Responsibility

Kid Cudi recently addressed Rick Ross' date-rape lyric controversy saying, "I like Rick Ross, I think his stuff is dope but that lyric, in particular, it's like come on, man, it's super sketch. It's a super sketchy line." Cudi's been no saint himself ("Drivin' drunk I'm doin' my thang..."), but changed his ways to become a better role model for his fans. "How am I going to be a leader if I'm still f---ed up and miserable?" he told Complex.

+ Loving Others

When Ben Breedlove -- a teenage fan with a dangerous lifelong heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy -- made a YouTube video about seeing Kid Cudi during his third near-death experience, the rapper was immediately moved by his story. Ben passed away a little over a year ago, but his memory will live on with Cudi forever. "This is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much," he wrote on his Tumblr page. "To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine." Help people like Ben by visiting the American Heart Association below.

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