Plain Dealer: Kid Cudi was a kid from Cleveland with big dreams...

**Didn't miss this... I actually have a copy of the newspaper from that day. Just havn't been up on the blog game like that...**

by John Soeder / Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic

For Kid Cudi, the pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming moments just keep piling up.

Not long ago, the rising hip-hop star found himself in a recording studio with Kanye West. (Pinch.)

In Hawaii. (Pinch, pinch.)

And did we mention this was the third time in six months that Cudi had gone to work with West in paradise? (Pinch, pinch, pinch.)

"I was like, 'Man, I'm really doing what I always wanted to do,'" says Cudi, 25.

His real name is Scott Mescudi. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Shaker Heights and Solon.

When the BET Awards are handed out Sunday, June 28, in Los Angeles, Cudi will be on the VIP list. He's nominated for best-new-artist honors, alongside Keri Hilson, Ryan Leslie, M.I.A. and Jazmine Sullivan.

Whether Cudi wins or not, you won't find a more buzzed-about rookie in the music business. He recently scored a Top 5 hit with the single "Day 'n' Nite." He'll be on tour this summer, performing Friday, July 17, at Cleveland's House of Blues.

He's a budding actor, too, with a role in a new HBO comedy series, "How to Make It in America."

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