Since emerging in the mainstream with “Cupid Shuffle” 18 years ago, Cupid has embodied joy with a brand of music that can feel as fun as it is cathartic. But when he’s not producing music or enjoying the rewards of a successful music career, he has bad days, too. In those moments, he’s lucky to find comfort in his wife.
“She’s real big on letting me just fuss,” Cupid tells Okayplayer. “Sometimes, when you bottle that stuff up too much, that’s when the problems come in. So I stay positive because I’m able to have an outlet to talk to people about my problems, whether they’re big, small, good, bad, whatever. I feel like every person needs to have somebody that they can just vent to.”
On the days when he needs to sort through his thoughts dolo, he hits up the track at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he once attended on a full athletic scholarship for track & field. Those workouts, along with boxing, have helped him find emotional clarity when it’s been hard to. Now, he’s ready to take us on some of that journey.
Riding the renewed momentum of his 2020 single, “Flex,” Cupid discusses his mental and physical maintenance practices, good sleep, hitting the track and more.
Cupid: I think my mental health is really good because I found a lot of balance. People who work all the time and sleep all the time don’t have a social life. When you’re going to hang with your friends all the time and you sleep, then your job will probably be messed up. I’ve been learning how to balance my life more’ my leisure, my sleep and my work. A guy told me that people who make a lot of money don’t sleep. I was like, “True, but if you don’t sleep then you’re not going to live long enough to spend all that money.”
In college, I didn’t even know what depression was. Back when I was in school, people would hear about depression and mental health and it was like, “Man, go on and live life.” Now it’s a lot different. I’m a human being. So there are days where it’s just rough and there’s days where it’s not. I just try to make sure that I try to find the good. I’m blessed. I’ve got a lot of good things going on. If I just pull my energy into the stuff that’s going good versus the stuff that’s going bad, then I think that I got a chance to be able to beat the depression bug. But it comes for everybody; especially now that there’s an identifiable thing that people really discuss.
In 2012, I gained a bunch of weight, and I was trying to find something to do to get back into fitness. So I started boxing. With boxing, you can take out your frustration on that bag. Boxing also teaches you a lesson. You have to learn how to respond to different things. If I’m sparring with somebody, I’m going to get hit. Just like you’re going to get hit in life. You gotta know how to be able to maneuver and duck and dodge and take some of those punches.
I’m also a runner. When I ran track on scholarship in college, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t fun. But now that I’m older, it takes me back to that college time. Those high school times. Times where I just didn’t have crazy worries. Times when I didn’t have the worries of figuring out how to pay bills and figuring out things for my kids and figuring out things for my family. It was a fun time that I really cherish. I’m not as fast as I used to be, but I feel like it just takes me back to just a really good time in my life.
When I’m in a negative mindset, I like to run a lot and release some of that built up anger. I ran track in college, so I go to the university track I ran at in college and I do a lot of track running. I’m always listening to some R&B when I run. On the track, the air and the sunlight shining on me that just does something to me. When I’m out there and the sun’s bright, feel like the universe is hugging me. I feel almost like God’s hugging me.
