Kid Cudi is happy again. Following less-than-positive reviews from fans and critics alike for last year’s Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven, the rapper reveals that he was “living a nightmare” for the past eight years, but that he is now awake.

During an interview with Billboard, Cudder confirmed that he is in a much better state today because of a major change he made.

“I really came out of that drug shit,” he explained. “People don’t know how real it was. I used drugs to try to fix my depression. It’s funny. When I got arrested [in 2010 with cocaine], people said I was an addict. But I was never an addict; I was just on a ride for a little bit…

“I thought about how much of a struggle it has been the past eight years, to be in the news and pretend to be happy when, really, I was living a nightmare,” he added. “But I can go anywhere, whenever I want. My daughter is in one of the best private schools in the nation. I have everything I ever dreamed of in terms of stability. But I hadn’t been living that reality, because depression was fu**ing me up. So this year I chose to be happy. I just woke up.”

Part of that awakening means he’s making new music. In the past two months, he has released “All In” and “The Frequency.” He’s now planning a new free project and says he is feeling “a lot more generous” with new tracks. Despite that, Cudder says he isn’t making Man on the Moon 3 anymore because he doesn’t “feel obligated to.”

He is, however, making music with Kanye West again. After their fallout, he recently reunited with his former G.O.O.D. Music boss to work on The Life of Pablo and West’s upcoming album Turbo Grafx 16.

“Me and Kanye are brothers. With family, there’s always going to be issues and shit,” said Cudi. “That was the first time I had been around him and his team in a while. In order to get back into the creative process, we had to talk. I’m not one of those people who’s just going to come around after a while, jump in and make music. We needed to have a big bro, lil bro convo. As soon as we had that, we were good.”

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Although he’s happier in general, he says he isn’t happy with the state of hip-hop at the moment. He made that clear last year with a tweet on the day Drake and Future’s joint album What a Time to Be Alive dropped.

“I made a comment about mediocrity in music on Twitter, around the time Drake and Future put out [2015’s What a Time to Be Alive],” he said. “People were like, ‘Cudi’s talking shit!’ I’m appalled any of y’all think I even sat down and listened to that shit. [Laughs] I wasn’t talking about that at all! But if the shoe fits… Ni**as are so guilty that they know it’s them. I didn’t even know they had a project. I tweeted that, put my phone down and walked away. Next time I pick it up, I’m in the news! They say I’m ranting; a rant means you care. I don’t care like that.”

Now, he says he’s focused on rapping again and ready to “dominate the year.”

“People think that I’ve peaked,” he said. “I haven’t even gotten a fucking nut off yet. I’ve been pre-cumming for the last eight years. I haven’t even ejaculated a full spew yet. So motherfuckers better get prepared.

“Everybody that’s out here that thinks they’re dope, your crew’s got you gassed,” he continued. “Instagram and Twitter got you gassed. Your likes and favorites got you gassed. I’m about to show ni**as what’s nice. And then I’m retiring. I’ll go off into the woods and chop trees for fire on some lumberjack shit. I’ll write poems and kick it with my daughters. We’ll ride horses. Fuck these ni**as. I’ll have no more energy for them. This is it.”