“I come from a Nigerian background, and it’s very strict,” Dot says, explaining that he grew up in a balanced yet disciplined household. Both of his parents provided boundaries: His mother handled the chores, instructing the boys to clean the kitchen and bathroom and take the trash to the curb every Friday. His father played the role of the enforcer, checking Cudi when he “would go out and come home some crazy hour in the morning thinking he bypassed chores.” Dot recalls, “My parents would either be waiting for him to get home or, as soon as that morning hit, my dad was at his door.”

“My dad don’t play,” Dot adds. “Even though he has a big heart [and] he’s a pastor, as soon as you start disobeying, as soon as you start not being respectful, a whole different person comes out. [Cudi] was thrown right into it. I’m sure it was more difficult for him.” Still, Cudi maintained a strong bond with Dot’s dad. In a 2012 Complex cover story, Cudi described Omishore as the “most fucking amazing man I’ve ever met. This man was the first real father I was around since my own.”

“That was the role I played,” Omishore says. “I even took him to church. He didn’t like that. He had to go with me to church because I’m a bishop and we were going to church together. When it started, he would go out there and smoke, so I had to rebuke him—no, he can’t do that. You have to wait until you get home to smoke.”

The home dynamic didn’t just consist of rules and chores, though. Cudi also helped introduce a new, lighthearted energy to the house. “Scott was a funny person,” Omishore says. “He made the house very lively. When he ate cereal, he didn’t drink the milk. He just used the milk to to eat the cereal, and threw the milk away. My wife always said, ‘Why you wasting the milk? You are supposed to drink the milk.’ He has his little ways, but that is minor. Scott was fun to be around.”

Cudi’s extended stay brought him and Dot even closer. “That’s when he became more of a brother,” Dot remembers. But, of course, brothers argue, too. And when it came to the music, Dot admits there were plenty of creative differences. Dot was a “city boy” and Cudi was “the closest thing to country.” Their styles, approaches to music, and goals didn’t always align, and at times they’d hit a wall, with no resolution in sight. But even then, they’d argue with respect and brotherhood in mind.

“We was all we had at the time,” Dot says. “It wasn’t like anyone cared what we were doing. We both would be pushing each other to create something great.”

Living together and working around the clock, they made “heat almost immediately,” Dot remembers. One of the first songs they recorded after Cudi moved in was “Cleveland is the Reason,” a fan favorite to this day. “It was a developmental process for both of us during the time,” Dot says. “When I met Cudi, he was definitely more of a rapper-rapper than people will probably describe him now. And I definitely was at the precipice of my production.”

The Omishore home served as the birthplace of Cudi’s breakout hit, “Day ‘N’ Nite,” which was recorded in the upstairs home studio. Omishore distinctly remembers hearing the song blaring through the speakers for the first time. “When they were playing the music, I said to myself, ‘That sounds good,’” he remembers. “They were so happy about it, and I said, ‘It’s going to be a hit.’”

He was right. “Day ‘N’ Nite” became Cudi’s breakout hit, leading him to financial security and ultimately earning five platinum certifications. But it wasn’t the only thing the young rapper took away from his two years living in the Omishore house. The East New York home is where he first embraced a fearlessness and honesty that fans still see in his music today. And it’s where he and Dot received daily words of wisdom from Omishore.

“I just gave them advice that they should remain focused and be hard-working and make sure they don’t do what’s unrighteous in the music industry, because we know what it’s all about,” Omishore says. “And believe in yourself and pray. Pray upon every project that you do.”

Kid Cudi is headlining our fourth annual ComplexCon in Long Beach, which takes place Nov. 2-3 at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. For more info and tickets, click here.