Do512 - What to do in Austin

By his own admission (on his MySpace page), Cleveland-raised, Brooklyn-based KiD CuDi (born Scott Mescudi) is not the “most insightful rapper … I’m not ya Talib Kweli, ya Mos Def, ya Kanye … ya Common, or anyone like that.” Which means, he’s not all that interested in making deep, political statements or changing the world or even the state of hip-hop — he just aims to be real, and to use his music to connect with people on a down-to-earth, honest level. You know, to just sound like (and be) the kind of decent dude you’d like to hang out with. So far, that humble mindset has served him well. His debut mixtape, A Kid Named Cudi, made a good impression on Kanye West, who ended up signing KiD CuDi to his G.O.O.D. Music label. Since then, KiD’s been featured on West’s 808s & Heartbreak album (even co-writing the track “Heartless”), and the indelible single “Day ’n’ Nite” has generated quite a bit of buzz on his own full-length debut, Man on the Moon: The Guardians.