Kid Cudi’s “Marijuana” video, directed and shot by actor Shia LaBeouf while Cudi was a judge at the 2010 High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, came out in early June 2011. By then Cudi had already said he was done with drugs, which made the video read as a goodbye to the “stoner MC” image he had grown tired of.
What Happened
“Marijuana” is track 5 on Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, released November 9, 2010. The song runs exactly 4:20, a deliberate nod, and was produced by Cudi with his longtime collaborator Dot da Genius. It is an open ode to cannabis as relief from anxiety and dark moods. It reached No. 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later certified gold by the RIAA.
The video is grainy, handheld footage of Cudi and his crew in Amsterdam during the 2010 Cannabis Cup, LaBeouf behind the camera. Cudi said the washed-out look was real, not a filter: “That’s why it looks real vintage; that’s not an effect.” The two had worked together before; LaBeouf also directed Cudi’s short film Maniac.
Why It Mattered
Cudi had built a following with songs about loneliness, depression and getting high, and fans and press had labeled him a stoner rapper. The video dropped weeks after a message to fans on April 1, 2011, quoted by this site at the time, saying his partying days were over and that he was happy being sober, an announcement this site doubted at the time because of the date. MTV News reported that Cudi called the video a send-off to his “smoking career.”
He explained the decision later. In a 2013 Complex interview, he said he quit weed around the time he made the album, mainly for his young daughter, and because he “didn’t ask to be dubbed the lonely stoner.” Cannabis culture, he said, “became a scene,” and he hated being boxed in as the “Stoner MC.”
Legacy
Cudi’s struggles were bigger than weed. Man on the Moon II addresses his cocaine use, and he was arrested in Manhattan in June 2010 on criminal mischief and drug possession charges. In October 2016 he announced he had checked into rehab for depression and suicidal urges, an unusually public admission for a major rapper. He has since said he relapsed after that stay.
The song outlived his own break from cannabis. “Marijuana” remains one of his most-played tracks and a staple of stoner playlists, including our list of the best songs to listen to high. For other artists who have been open about cannabis, see our list of famous people who smoke weed, and for more of the Cannabis Cup’s history, our story on the 2013 Cannabis Cup in Seattle. More archive stories are in cannabis news.
Kid Cudi “Marijuana” FAQ
Who directed Kid Cudi’s “Marijuana” video?
Shia LaBeouf directed and shot it, filming Cudi in Amsterdam at the 2010 High Times Cannabis Cup.
Why is Kid Cudi’s “Marijuana” 4:20 long?
The length is a nod to 420, cannabis slang. The track runs exactly four minutes and twenty seconds.
Does Kid Cudi still smoke weed?
He said he quit around 2010 to 2011, mainly for his daughter. Since then he has talked far more about cocaine relapse and mental health than about cannabis.
Originally reported by The Weed Street Journal; rewritten and updated in October 2026 with what happened next.