Kanye West picked up where he left off with Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi) on stage last night in Chicago. Last year, Mescudi made his first appearance since checking himself into rehab at West’s concert in Sacramento. Two days after the concert and Mescudi’s reemergence into a better state of mental health, West had to be hospitalized. Both suffering from mental issues, each artist has played a relay race of sorts with the timing of their conditions.
Last night, one year later, West played a show in Chicago. Mescudi joined him on stage to perform “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt 1,” in what was an uplifting show of friendship and music. The circularity of the two artists’ experiences might have contributed to the feature.
Last year, Mescudi revealed in a Facebook post that he’d checked into rehabilitation facility to treat his depression. Mescudi made the announcement while his sixth LP, Passion, Pain, and Demon Slayin’ sat ready for release. He promised the fans that the album would still release, and it did.
“I am not at peace,” he wrote in the post. “It took me a while to get to this place of commitment, but it is something I have to do for myself, my family, my best friend/daughter and all of you, my fans.”
West famously yanked twenty-one dates out of his tour schedule month later in November 2016. West’s promoters refunded the tickets without word or explanation. The cancellation hardly seemed surprising considering West’s other actions at the time. At the tail end of a trail of cancellations, public remarks about Jay Z and Beyonce and political statements, West was hospitalized due to exhaustion and dehydration that led to “temporary psychosis.” West reportedly had tried to attack a staff member at his gym, and was deemed a danger to himself or others.
West alleged Beyonce of giving MTV an ultimatum between her attendance of the VMAs and her assured win of the Video of the Year award. “Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win,” he said. He also shouted to Jay Z, through his audience, “Jay Z call me bruh…I know you got killers please don’t send them at my head, just call me, talk to me like a man.” Jay Z hadn’t called Kanye after Kim Kardashian had been robbed in Paris and Kanye felt offended or possibly threatened. The reports from TMZ suggest West experienced extreme paranoia at the time, a detail which would certainly hold up against his actions in public. In another instance, he told fans that his vote—which he promised never to cast—would be for Donald Trump. Fans in the Sacramento arena did not hold back their protest after Kanye chose to walk off stage in lieu of continuing the show. West was even reported to have feuded with Mescudi during this time.
Now, they seem like best of friends. Kid Cudi brought West on stage to the screaming excitement of fans in the audience. West and Cudi exploded into the chorus of “Father Stretch My Hands” and danced around and it was great. The audience delivered West’s opening lines for him; he pointed to the sky and knew that he was not forgot.
Photography Credit:Brett Padelford
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