Kid Cudi is about to follow in mentor Kanye West’s footsteps and he’s getting a little help from one of Hollywood’s biggest up-and-coming stars. On the heels of Yeezy’s 35-minute video for "Runaway," the Cleveland rapper is planning on releasing a short film of his own to be directed by actor Shia LaBeouf and feature underground rapper Cage. XXLMag.com recently chopped it up with the former Def Jux MC to find out their plans for the project.

According to Cage, the video will center around “Maniac,” their haunting collaboration from Cudi’s new album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager. A close friend of both LaBeouf and Cudder, Cage says the idea for the partnership came about recently when the Transformers star expressed he was a fan of the XXL Freshman alum’s music.

“Out of nowhere, Shia LaBeouf goes you motherfuckers are having too much fun without me,” Cage explained. “ [Then] he throws his hat in and goes I’ma do the video.”

“We all talked about it over Halloween actually,” he continued, “and we decided well let’s make a movie; let’s make a short film. Fuck just doing a little three-minute video, let’s do something big. Let’s do something that hasn’t been done.”

While he wouldn’t reveal any specific details about what fans should expect to see on the screen, he promised, true to the film’s title, to anticipate plenty of “mania.”

Cage added that the crew already has several scripts written for the movie and plan on shooting very soon.

This isn’t LaBeouf’s first foray in the director’s chair either. He was responsible for Cage’s “ I Never Knew You” video, and over the last few years has been developing the rapper's biopic.

Cudi, on the other hand, enlisted the talents of actor Josh Hartnet for his “Pursuit of Happiness” clip in 2009. —Jesse Gissen

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