Kid Cudi and Kanye West have gone back and forth between conflict and friendship before, but that seems to be over now. In a recent cover story for Esquire, Cudi made it clear that he has become more protective of his own mental health in recent years and that he will not budge from his current position of keeping a distance from West following their most recent spat in February.

The dispute started with Cudi’s contributions being removed from Donda 2 due to his friendship with Kim Kardashian’s former boyfriend, Pete Davidson.

“Do you know how it feels to wake up one day, look at your social media, and you’re trending because somebody’s talking some shit about you?” Cudi said. “That shit pissed me off. That he had the power to fuck with me that week. That he used his power to fuck with me.” He added, “You fucking with my mental health now, bro.”

Cudi then stated that he has developed “zero tolerance for the wrong energies” in his life and pointed out that “so many people” have been “burned” by West doing “some fucked-up shit.”

“I’m not one of your kids. I’m not Kim,” he said. “It don’t matter if I’m friends with Pete or not friends with Pete. None of this shit had anything to do with me. If you can’t be a grown man and deal with the fact that you lost your woman? That’s not my fucking problem.”

“With all due respect, I’m not Drake, who’s about to take a picture with him next week and be friends again, and their beef is squashed,” Cudi said regarding Drake’s recent decision to reconcile with West after years of beef. “That’s not me. What I say, I mean. I will be done with you. It’s gonna take a motherfucking miracle for me and that man to be friends again. I don’t see it happening. He gon’ have to become a monk.”

“I didn’t love myself all them years you knew me,” he said, while quoting philosopher Samantha Jones. “I love myself more now, bro. I love myself way more.”

Since the interview, West took a dig at Cudi while celebrating Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian’s split. In an Instagram post, he poked fun at Cudi’s appearance at Rolling Loud Miami which came to an abrupt end when West’s fans began throwing objects at him on stage. (Consequence)

The reasons why Cudi has decided to step away from this toxic relationship once and for all are beyond evident at this point. Perhaps it is what’s best for him after all.

Photo Credit: Brett Padelford