Day 'N' Nite (nightmare)

About this song

Kid Cudi's first single, released in 2008, is his biggest track to date, reaching number 3 on the US Billboard charts and selling over 5 million copies in the US. Cudi has said he wrote it after his uncle, who had raised him, died in 2006, and that the two had been on bad terms. The song was inspired by Geto Boys' 'My Mind Playing Tricks On Me', and it was remixed heavily, most notably by Crookers. It first appeared on the mixtape A Kid Named Cudi and later on the debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day.

What it's about

The song serves as Cudi's justification for his unresolved conflict with his late uncle and the way he copes with the pain of it. It suggests that drugs help him escape, while the pressures of the music industry and the struggle to make it caused the problems in the first place.

Fun facts

• Sampled in 26 other songs, like “Jenni Rivera by FLVCKKA & Fhany Santin”.
• Covered 5 times, including “Canada by Jeremie & Rucka Rucka Ali (Ft. Fredrique Shampoo)”.
• Written by Dot Da Genius and Kid Cudi.
• Produced by Dot Da Genius.
• Recorded at Headbanga Studios.