I'm not sure why this sticks out to me, but I distinctly remember the first time I ever listened to Kid Cudi. I was 13, sleeping over at my buddy's house. We were doing typical middle school sleepover things: playing M-rated Xbox games that were outlawed in my house, prank calling girls, listening to music—most of which was completely foreign to me, especially the rap.

After my friend was killed yet again in Call of Duty, he dropped his controller and stretched out to the coffee table in front of the couch and hit shuffle on his iPod. This was the new, shiny iPod Touch; such a device would be considered an antique now, but back then, it was state of the art. I'd ogled at it for awhile earlier in the night. He had some kind of crazy dragon-killing missile-launching projectile game; I played it for hours until he got mad at me because I was ignoring him. Honestly, I didn't even really like hanging out with him. He just had a cool house; I enjoyed playing his video games, messing around with his iPod and flipping through his copy of the 2007 Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition that he kept under his bed.

My friend shuffled his iPod; the next song up was "Day 'n' Nite" by Kid Cudi. It was one of those songs that sticks out to you the first time you hear it, you know? Sometimes it takes a few listens to realize you like a song, but "Day 'n' Nite" was not one of those songs. I attached to it; the song is about smoking weed to 'free your mind at night', and I could not relate to that, but then again, that's not what the song is really about. Let's read the first verse:

I toss and turn, I keep stress in my mind, mind
I look for peace, but see, I don't attain
What I need for keeps
This silly game we play... play
Now look at this
Madness the magnet keeps attracting me, me
I try to run, but see I'm not that fast
I think I'm first, but surely finish last, last

This is about Cudi's struggle with the demons in his mind. They keep him up at night as he tosses and turns. The "madness" that plagues him draws him closer, like a magnet, and though he runs, he's certain that he'll finish last. This song was released in 2008. It's now 2016, and Cudi just checked himself into rehab for depression and suicidal thoughts. He uploaded this incredible post to Facebook before he left.

https://www.facebook.com/kidcudi/posts/10154706102...

First things first, congratulations Cudi. I sincerely hope you're safe and you've started feeling better since you went to rehab. You've already made perhaps the biggest step: asking for help.

And Cudi, thank you. Seriously, thank you so much. In my experience, there is without question a certain stigma placed on depressed males. "Suck it up." "Get over it." "Man up."

That's the one that gets me. Man up. What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Crap like that is why the suicide rate is so high. And I think Cudi would agree with that. Depression is not exclusive to one group of people; all of us feel intense emotions, and when depression comes through, it hits anyone like a train. So Cudi, thank you. Your post has been shared over 137,000 times. That means millions upon millions of people have seen that post; I'd be willing to bet at least one of them needed to see it in the most desperate way. There is no doubt in my mind that you have saved lives with your post. And as you continue to make music and speak out on your illness and the stigmas that go along with it, you will save more lives still.

But don't be ashamed of it, Cudi. This is you. Depression's always going be there; you're in it for the long haul. But that doesn't mean it's always going to be like this. You can control it. You can feel good about your life, enjoy it just like everyone else. And Cudi, that's nothing to be ashamed of.