Kid Cudi's 13-year-old song "Day 'N' Nite" is being given new life thanks to a TikTok trend, but the rapper isn't exactly happy about it.
Lately, TikTok users — many of whom hadn't even been born when the song was released — have been posting videos in which they mouth the words "Now look at this" from the song. They then follow it up by cutting out the next line and usually post something funny or innocuous (one girl, for instance, placed a chip on a duck's head).
Last week, Cudi sounded off on his song being used for the purpose of entertaining TikTok, as it was written following the death of an uncle.
"I don't [like] what they did to my song on tik tok takin out the lyrics," he tweeted. "We live in a strange time. I'm not flattered." He then agreed the trend is "wack."
Over the weekend, though, some fans felt that Cudi needed to lighten up.
"Let's face it. Cudi is 37, he doesn't culturally understand TikTok humor/trends," one person commented. "Gen z is a thing. They make jokes. People (all gens) like jokes. People (all gens) like making jokes that follow certain trends. It's harmless and he should be flattered…"
Another person told Cudi, "It just ain't that deep really."
"I don't think I'm makin it 'deep' by tweetin how I feel. Now if I was ranting thats another thing. Nothing wrong w me stating I don't approve, plus if u are such a fan, u know my lyrics are most important to me," Cudi replied, adding that he's "passionate" about his music doesn't care "who has a problem with that."
Some fans argued that Cudi is missing the silver lining, and that's that a new generation of people are being introduced to his music, much like what happened last fall when a skateboarder used Fleetwood Mac's 1977 hit "Dreams" as part of a video. "Dreams" quickly saw a huge influx of popularity and sales.
On Sunday, as the "Day 'N' Nite" debate raged on, Cudi seemed to soften his stance and claimed the media had "misconstrued" his feelings and argued that he wasn't "angry" after all.
"I don't have a problem with TikTok at all and what kids do on there," he tweeted. "When I made Day 'N' Nite, I wanted it to help people. I never imagined it would be used in a joking manner. It threw me off a lil bit. As long as the song is still helping you guys and the lyrics aren't forgotten, keep doing your thing."