Our Complex fam just kicked off their WZRD week with a brand new online cover and story with the duo. Joe La Puma sat down Cudi and Dot Da Genius for the full story behind their friendship and the back-story on WZRD. If you think Dot just came into the Cudi camp recently, than you’re sadly mistaken. These two have been down since Cudders first moved to NYC from Cleveland.

You’re known for your emotional songs. Listening to the WZRD album, it seems like there’s less sad songs.
KC: See, here’s the thing; These songs are more bright and positive. So one may think that they’re less emotional, because it’s not talking about sadness and loneliness—the really dramatic emotions. But for me, this is the most emotional, because I was so excited about this feeling I was having. That’s why all the songs are so uptempo and they have energy. And how I’m singing, I’m really pushing myself to another level, just singing that way. Like, I remember I played “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” for my sister, and she didn’t even know it was me. She didn’t even recognize my voice, because she said, “The sound is so different.” I’ve never pushed it to this level before, and that’s what I like to do. I always like to take it to the next level, and then expand my palette of different styles. So I definitely feel like it was my most emotional, man. When you listen to “Efflictim,” that song is like…

read more excerpts after the jump…

Complex: So getting into the album, “Teleport 2 Me, Jamie” is obviously a special song. Do you think it’s the most personal song you’ve done?
KC: Yeah. It’s tough for me to talk about love on records. I’ve never been that type of artist. It’s like, I have no love songs at all. I kind of took a whole other route with my music. This is just something that I was inspired to write. I felt like, if I was going to talk about it, this was a good first shot at expressing myself, and how I feel about this person. Just like how I was saying I want to do a song singing to my daughter. I know it’s going to take forever, because I want to make the right song. If I’m going to make a song for my daughter, it better be the most perfect song in the world. It better be the most glorious song with the most beautiful melodies that no one has ever heard. So, it’s like that pressure.

How did Jamie react to it?
KC: She loved it. Me and Jamie’s relationship has been relatively private, and that’s how we’d like to keep it. Yet, every woman likes to have the man that’s in her life, like, claim her and not be ashamed and say, “I love this woman.” I just missed that in a relationship. I fumbled, and making this song just happened to be my redemption to her. Just to let her know how important she is to me and how she’s made me feel. Thank God she loved it. If she was like, “It just sucks! A motherfucker makes a song about me, and then it just sucks!” I would have been like, “Shit. Fuck.” [Laughs.].

Right. What new people in hip-hop are you guys excited about?
KC: I like A$AP Rocky. I love how him and Schoolboy Q chopped up the “Pursuit” shit. I was really flattered, because in my head, I think the young kids think I’m fucking lame and old [Laughs.]. I feel like they think I’m old school. So it’s like, when they honor me in a really creative way, it’s like, “Yes!”

There’s been other rock albums by rappers. The most recent one is Lil Wayne. What do you think WZRD brings to the table that other artists have failed to do?
KC: I don’t know, man. I think, anyone who sets out to do anything out of their comfort zone deserves a round of applause. When people critique people so hard, I think that’s really wack. You’re supposed to be someone that pushes the envelope. Yeah, it might have been odd for Lil Wayne to say he wanted to do a rock album, because he’s been doing hip-hop for so long, but it’s like, “Shit, man. Why not? Fuck it.” People are like, “Well, we don’t want you to sing.” It’s like, “Man, fuck that.” The artist is supposed to do what they’re passionate about. I mean, WZRD brings that same energy. But being that, we are a different thing—we’re a band. We have our own sound. We really built this shit from the ground up with me playing guitar, without much experience, playing this shit on the tour bus. It was almost like we were in a high-school garage band.

I always wanted to ask you how it felt when Kanye was like, “Kid Cudi’s my favorite artist in the world.”
KC: It was an amazing feeling. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I think he’s full of shit [Laughs.] I love him for saying that. I really do. That was one of the most flattering things anyone’s ever said to me. As mega as he is, it’s an amazing thing to say. He didn’t have to say that. Again, I think he’s out of his mind for saying that [Laughs.]. But that’s really fucking cool.

Related: New Music: WZRD (Kid Cudi & Dot Da Genius) “Brake”
KiD CuDi Announces His Band Name & New Label
New Music: WZRD “Love Hard”
Kid Cudi Covers Complex (Oct/Nov Issue)
Kid Cudi opens up on cocaine use, comes down on Wale in the new Complex (Oct/Nov issue)