Kid Cudi is celebrating his hit single “Day ‘N’ Nite” on its 16th anniversary, taking to social media to acknowledge the song’s impact on his life.

The Cleveland rapper shared a post on Instagram this week explaining how the song “changed his life,” claiming he knew it was going to special.

AD

AD LOADING...

“16 years ago I released a song that changed my life and many others lives at the same time,” he wrote. “I wanna thank each and every person that played it, told a friend about it, and still spread the word til this day. Who knew there would be such a response to such a unique record at that time? Only me and my crew. We knew.”

He added: “Love to all who had anything to do w Day n Nite and the early days of my career. ur all magical people and im forever grateful.”

Produced Kid Cudi and Dot Da Genius, “Day ‘N’ Nite” was included on both his 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi and debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day in 2009. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.

In a clip from his 2021 Prime Video documentary A Man Named Scott, Cudi said his goal going into “Day ‘N’ Nite” was to “make one good song.”

AD

AD LOADING...

“I was just like, let’s try to make one good song here,” he said. “Just one good song and just perfect that – and then from there we’ll figure everything out. But let me just make at least one song that I know is amazing.”

In the same documentary, Kid Cudi also said writing the song was like “therapy” in a clip from a 2008 interview.

AD

AD LOADING...

“I was going through a really rough time and it was really just like therapy for me to write it,” he said. I wasn’t thinking about making a hit record. I wrote it for me, you know what I’m saying? And if people felt it, that’s cool.”

Kid Cudi previously told Complex that he wrote “Day ‘N’ Nite” following his uncle’s death.

Kid Cudi Links With Denzel Curry On New Song ‘Black Ops’ As ‘Moon Man’ Comic Lands
Kid Cudi Links With Denzel Curry On New Song ‘Black Ops’ As ‘Moon Man’ Comic Lands

“My uncle that I lived with passed in 2006,” he said. “We were actually beefing because he forced me out the house when I didn’t have another situation set up, so I was bitter. I never apologized for it, and that kills me. That’s why I wrote ‘Day ‘N’ Nite.’

“If he wasn’t there to let me stay with him those first few months, there would be no Kid Cudi. It fucked me up watching him go, but it was like, ‘I have to fulfill this destiny now for sure.’ Things were moving but they weren’t solidified yet.”

AD

AD LOADING...

He added: “I had ‘Day ’N’ Nite,’ we were just getting started, and I was like, ‘This shit has got to pop off.’ I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”