September 9, 2026
Serato DJ 5.0 Public Beta First Look – Beatgrids Go Lucid!
Serato’s 5.0 versions of DJ Pro and DJ Lite have gone into public beta today. They bring with them new flexible BPM analysis, called Lucid Beatgrids...
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Watch the Producer of Kid Cudi’s ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ Explain How He Made the Track
After breaking down Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘n’ Nite” in August, Genius’ Deconstructed series has returned to examine another one of the Cleveland rapper’s anthems. This time, they enlist Brooklyn producer E.VAX to explain how he made Cudi’s 2009 hit “Pursuit of Happiness” featuring MGMT and Ratatat.
Speaking with Genius, E.VAX recalls how he connected with Cudi then breaks down the different elements of the track.
“Pursuit of Happiness” was released in 2009 as the third single from Cudi’s debut studio album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day. The track peaked at No. 59 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and has been certified four-times platinum. Steve Aoki‘s remix of it has remained a staple in DJ sets.
E.VAX is best known as one half of the electronic rock duo Ratatat. He has produced tracks for JAY-Z and Nas and has three production credits on Cudi and Kanye West‘s KIDS SEE GHOSTS album (“Feel the Love” featuring Pusha T,” “Fire,” and “Reborn”).
Watch Deconstructed above.
Related: Watch Dot Da Genius Explain How He Produced Kid Cudi’s ‘Day ‘n’ Nite’
