Kid Cudi Defends Kanye West Reconciliation: “Everyone Deserves Some Grace”

Kid Cudi is shedding light on his reconciliation with Kanye West on-stage during his Friday Chicago concert.

The rapper played two shows in Chicago this week, the first on Thursday, Sept. 3. His Friday night show was met with a number of surprise appearances, including Rick Ross, Travis Scott, Don Toliver and Cudi, and he’s defending his decision to partake in the performance.

“I understand ur frustration Peter, I fucks w u, but I dont really care if ur disappointed in me,” he wrote on X in response to radio DJ Peter Rosenberg who said he was “disappointed in a lot of people” who “are being openly lame about Kanye.”

“That man is my brother. U dont have a relationship w him like I do. Damn near 2 decades of art and friendship. U not family. So I get it,” he wrote. “Ive been around Ye, and I can honestly say talking to him now is how it use to be when I first signed to him, but even better. He was dealing w mental health struggles for years and now hes good.”

West had a fall from grace in recent years due to a number of controversies, including sharing antisemitic and pro-Nazi remarks. In January, West placed a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal where he apologized and took back his past antisemitic statements.

Cudi continued, “Everyone deserves some grace when they family. I was the hardest on him out of anybody. I held him accountable. He apologized and it was sincere. But like I said, u not family so I get it.”

The two rappers have publicly fallen out a few times. The “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper addressed their friendship fallout in a 2025 interview with CBS Mornings, where he said West broke “the code of a friendship.” He also explained that they had tried to make up in the past, but “we always have a falling out.”

One of their more recent conflicts arose when West slammed Cudi for being friends with Pete Davidson, whom West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian was dating at the time. “Just so everyone knows Cudi will not be on Donda because he’s friends with you know who,” he wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post in 2022, while tagging Cudi and Kardashian.

Cudi responded on X, writing, “We talked weeks ago about this. You’re whack for flipping the script and posting this lie just for a look on the internet. You ain’t no friend. BYE.”