Kid Cudi/ Shia LaBeouf Picture Leaks Online

Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager drops next week, and anticipation for the project continues to grow. The hype swelled on Friday (November 5), when a picture of Cudi holding a white sheet of paper that read "Maniac, Cage, Kid Cudi — Dir: Shia LaBeouf," surfaced.

Cudi worked with Cage and singer-songwriter St. Vincent on the MOTM II track "Maniac," which all of them performed — along with the Roots — on a recent episode of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

Cage and LaBeouf are good friends, and LaBeouf directed Cage's video for "I Never Knew You." And on Friday, Cage tweeted that the trio are indeed working on a short film.

This wouldn't be the first time Cudi has worked with an A-list actor. He starred on the HBO show "How to Make It in America," and actor Josh Hartnett produced his Jason Goldwatch-directed video for "The Pursuit of Happiness."

Cudi said he and Cage hooked up when he asked his A&R to reach out to an underground MC, and that he was glad Cage got back to him.

"I was just happy that he responded, because he's a hip-hop dude and at that point I didn't know how real hip-hop heads thought about me musically," said Cudi. "So I was like, 'Man, this dude is not going to mess with me. He's going to be like, "Man, what is this? Nah, I'm not really rocking with that." ' And I spoke to him on the phone and he was just mad cool."

Cudi alluded to the fact that he was on a lot of drugs when the two first connected, but that talking to Cage, who has also battled drug addiction in the past, helped him get through a lot. But Cudi was still unsure if Cage would like the collaboration he had in mind.

"At first I was looking at his expression and I was like, 'Man, he's probably going to hate this.' I never put it out there, but I always just brace myself in my mind, said Cudi. "Like, man, if he hates it, I ain't mad at him. ... [But] he was feeling it."

Are you excited for Kid Cudi's new album? Let us know in the comments!