5 Stars Who Say They’re Inspired by Kanye West

Kanye West may have a giant-sized ego, but the rapper has had an impressive career and continues to inspire many other artists in his own genre and outside of it. These 5 stars have all spoken on how they’ve taken inspiration from Kanye’s work or even just his attitude. Believing Kanye really is as great as Kanye says, these celebrities are in awe of his long-lasting career and his approach to making music.

Lorde

Lorde looks to Kanye to see how he has made his career last: “I look to Kanye for inspiration in a lot of things, and his ability to kind of reinvent and keep throwing curveballs with each record. He’s able to keep things interesting, and keep people following him, after what has been quite a lengthy career.”

Rob Kardashian

Soon to be brother-in-law Rob likes how Kanye designs: ”Kanye is like a fashion icon so he is definitely inspiration to being something great or having a great business. He does a lot. I mean everything he touches is literally gold – from all the shoes he’s created whether it be Louis [Vuitton] to Yeezys to whatever he is about to do with Adidas.”

MGMT

MGMT look at Kanye’s career goals: “On some of the new songs, I found myself thinking about Lady Gaga or Kanye West, and what their ultimate goal is. This sounds cheesy, but for us it’s really just about the music and getting people to hear what we have to say. I’m sure it’s about the music for those people, too… but fame… it’s an interesting career.”

Drake

Rapper Drake says Kanye inspired him from the beginning: “I think Kanye deserves a lot of credit and Andre 3000 deserves a lot of credit for the shift in what you have to be to be a rapper, and what your music has to sound like. Those guys made it OK for melody to be introduced. They made it OK to not necessarily be the most street dude. For me, I started to believe more in myself when I saw those two guys. I thought, ‘I’m good at rapping, so if they just respect the talent and don’t crucify you for what your past is or who you are, then I should be OK.'”

Kasabian

Band Kasabian have been inspired by how Kanye works for their new album: ”The moves he pulled, for the person he is and how mainstream he is, you have to take your hat off. In rock music I don think anyone’s pulled that move. Not to sound like Kanye, but to go ‘f**k it’. I wanted to do the same. I want people to listen to a rock band who play guitars, but are not just a rock band. The sound of the record was already in place, but ‘Yeezus’ reinforced the need for me to pull moves, for songs to be seven minutes and stop in the middle and change, for synths to be too loud, for lyrics to be f**king throwdowns. We’re a big band and there’s so much you can do. You don’t want to just stand still.”

Photos: PRPhotos