Kanye West

Electric Relaxation

A Tribe Called Quest

West named this track as the specific creative catalyst that made him want to pursue hip-hop production and try to redefine the genre's sound.

The Eraser

Thom Yorke

West said he listened to Radiohead and Thom Yorke's solo work more than anything else during this period, and directly channeled that influence into the emotional tone of 808s & Heartbreak, once describing 'Love Lockdown' as 'Thom Yorke in the strip club.'

Mystery of Iniquity

Lauryn Hill

West cited this MTV Unplugged track as a melodic and lyrical benchmark, and its live vocal became the basis for his breakout single 'All Falls Down' after Hill declined to clear the original master.

Cause I Love You

Lenny Williams

West traced the origin of 'Slow Jamz' directly to this song, describing hearing it used by Steve Harvey in 'Kings of Comedy' as the spark, and later reused it as the sample for Twista's follow-up single 'Overnight Celebrity.'

Sleep to Dream

Fiona Apple

West said he tried to replicate the drum sound and production of this track, admitting his own attempts fell short, and his admiration for the album's producer led him to bring Jon Brion onto Late Registration.

12:51

The Strokes

West admitted he tried to push his own album's mix toward this track's guitar-forward sound until Common talked him out of burying the drums and vocals.

Distant Lover

Marvin Gaye

West said this specific Marvin Gaye track was the direct inspiration behind his own production for 'Spaceship.'

A Thousand Miles

Vanessa Carlton

West singled out the string arrangement on this track, crediting arranger Ron Fair specifically for the sound he admired.

Scar Tissue

Red Hot Chili Peppers

West called the Red Hot Chili Peppers his favorite group and pointed to the lyric 'broken jaw' on this track as resonating with him after his own near-fatal car accident.

Seven Nation Army

The White Stripes

West acknowledged the choice was an obvious, even 'cliche' pick, but singled out his appreciation for Jack White's combined singer-songwriter-producer role.

Akira

Katsuhiro Otomo

West named it, alongside There Will Be Blood, as his all-time favorite film and has drawn directly on its imagery for his own video work.

There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson

West has said he watched the film obsessively, 30 to 40 times, and named it one of his two all-time favorite movies.

Menace II Society

The Hughes Brothers

West called it the single movie he has watched most in his life and cited it as a deep narrative influence.

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen

West said he personally identified with the film's depiction of subjugation, comparing it to his own battles against gatekeepers in the fashion industry, and later hired McQueen to direct visuals for him.

Pacific Rim

Guillermo del Toro

After an advance screening, West publicly declared it one of his favorite movies of all time and praised del Toro by name as a master filmmaker.

The Holy Mountain

Alejandro Jodorowsky

West cited Jodorowsky and this film by name on stage during the Yeezus Tour as an underappreciated visionary who influenced his own creative and stage design thinking.

Eyes Wide Shut

Stanley Kubrick

West drew on the film's stately pacing, color palette, and piano motif while directing 'Runaway,' and directed crews to shoot in a Kubrick-inspired style.

The Walk

Robert Zemeckis

West publicly praised the film immediately after seeing it, calling it a modern masterpiece and Zemeckis an inventive filmmaker.

Breaking Bad

Vince Gilligan

West described binge-watching the entire series with Kim Kardashian in hotel rooms during downtime, a specific shared ritual rather than general fandom.

Wreck-It Ralph

Rich Moore

West said on camera that he related personally to the character's struggle of being typecast as a villain when he only wanted to be understood.

Tron

Steven Lisberger

West is said to have referenced the film's neon-grid look for his stage and video design, though no direct statement or specific instance is documented.

Sleep

Vincent Desiderio

West studied Desiderio's 24-foot panorama of tangled sleeping bodies as a model for visual sampling, then restaged its exact composition and voyeuristic tone for the 2016 'Famous' video and the accompanying Blum & Poe sculptural tableau.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Cover Art

George Condo

Over eight to ten studio sessions on the Upper East Side, West worked directly with Condo to translate the album's themes into fractured, tragicomic figures, including a ballerina image developed after West showed Condo slow-motion footage of dancer Sylvie Guillem.

Vanessa Beecroft's Living Tableaux

Vanessa Beecroft

West called Beecroft's austere, uniform arrangements of human figures 'a piece of my brain' after she staged the living installation for his 808s & Heartbreak listening event and later for multiple Yeezy runway presentations.

Donda Album Cover Gouache

Louise Bourgeois

West selected a 2007 red wet-on-wet gouache of a pregnant figure by Bourgeois, made the same year his mother Donda died, as the visual centerpiece of the 'Donda' promotional campaign.

Kaikai Kiki Studio Collaboration

Takashi Murakami

West traveled to Murakami's Kaikai Kiki studio in Asaka, Japan in 2006 to develop the 'Graduation' album art, later re-engaging Murakami for visual work on 'Kids See Ghosts' in 2018.

Wes Lang's Yeezus Tour Artwork

Wes Lang

West collected Lang's hand-lettered, skull-and-Americana gouache drawings and commissioned him to design the visual iconography and merchandise for the 2013 'Yeezus' tour.

International Klein Blue

Yves Klein

West is said to have used Klein's exact ultramarine pigment across packaging and lighting for 'Jesus Is King' and Sunday Service staging, though the specific sourcing of this claim is thin.

Sachs House

Tadao Ando

West purchased this concrete oceanfront home as the ultimate architectural statement, then stripped out windows, doors, interior fixtures and marble finishes to reduce it to a raw concrete shell without plumbing or HVAC.

Calabasas Compound

Axel Vervoordt

After seeing Vervoordt's wabi-sabi interiors in Venice and Maastricht, West said, 'I thought, This man could design Batman's house. I had to work with him,' and hired him to gut his home into a monochromatic, monastery-like interior.

Roden Crater

James Turrell

West visited Turrell's earthwork extensively, donated $10 million toward its completion in 2019, and filmed his 'Jesus Is King' film inside it, calling Turrell's light chambers his ideal for how people should live.

Polar Bear Sofa

Jean Royère

West sold his Maybach to fund the purchase of an original Royère 'Ours Blanc' sofa, saying, 'People told me I was crazy for what I paid for it, but I had to have it.'

Banquete Chair

Fernando Campana and Humberto Campana

West called this stuffed-animal chair, bought from Murray Moss, the first serious piece of design furniture he ever purchased, and linked his attachment to it directly to a scene from the anime film Akira.

Cruel Summer Pavilion

OMA (Rem Koolhaas, Shohei Shigematsu)

West's creative agency DONDA partnered with OMA to build a bespoke seven-screen pyramidal pavilion for the Cannes premiere of his short film 'Cruel Summer,' marking his direct authorship of a temporary architectural structure.

Gund Hall

John Andrews

West stood atop a desk in the tiered studio trays of Harvard's Graduate School of Design in November 2013 and delivered an impromptu speech declaring, 'I really do believe that the world can be saved through design, and everything needs to actually be architected.'

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier

Interior designer Joseph Dirand introduced West to Le Corbusier's work in Paris, which West cited as a direct catalyst for the stripped-down minimalist aesthetic he pursued during the 'Yeezus' era.

Chandigarh Chairs

Pierre Jeanneret

Teak-and-cane V-leg chairs from Jeanneret's Chandigarh Capitol Complex furnished West's Vervoordt-designed Calabasas home, sourced through design dealers as part of his modernist furniture collecting.

John Pawson

John Pawson

West referenced Pawson's austere minimalist architecture on his personal blog as one of several designers, alongside Herzog and Hadid, who shaped his interest in reducing spaces to pure lines and hidden infrastructure.

Borne Béton Lamp

Le Corbusier

West cited this raw-concrete outdoor lamp as the central visual and conceptual inspiration for the stripped-down aesthetic of his 2013 album Yeezus, drawn to how a utilitarian object became a six-figure luxury artifact.

Teddy Bear Chair

Fernando and Humberto Campana

The first piece of contemporary design West ever bought, purchased from Murray Moss; he tied its plush, oversized form directly to the giant teddy bear scene in the anime film Akira, one of his favorite movies.

Yves Saint Laurent Monogram

A.M. Cassandre

West held Cassandre's interlocking 1961 YSL monogram as the benchmark for iconic brand identity design, and explicitly asked graphic designer Peter Saville to create an equivalent mark for him, saying 'You're Cassandre, that's what I want.'

Ours Polaire Sofa

Jean Royère

A grail piece of French mid-century design for West, who said he sold his Maybach to afford the rare upholstered sofa despite others telling him the price was excessive.

Chandigarh Cane Chair

Pierre Jeanneret

West assembled an extensive collection of original teak-and-cane Jeanneret Chandigarh chairs for his Calabasas compound as part of his shift toward mid-century French and Indian modernist furniture.

Axel Vervoordt Stone Table

Axel Vervoordt

A monolithic stone table West reportedly encountered at a Venice art fair, which he credited with drawing him to Vervoordt's wabi-sabi aesthetic and prompting their multi-year home renovation collaboration.

Nuage Bookcase

Charlotte Perriand

West was introduced to Charlotte Perriand's modular casework by Paris-based designer Joseph Dirand, part of his broader study of French modernist furniture, though no confirmation he specifically owns this bookcase.

Dwell

Lara Deam

West described reading Dwell magazine at a Barnes & Noble in Chicago as a teenager, long before he could afford architectural furniture, crediting it as an early spark for his interest in modern residential design.

Ralph Lauren Pink Polo

Ralph Lauren

Worn deliberately to disrupt gangsta rap dress codes, this garment became West's defining visual trademark during the 'College Dropout' era and was referenced directly in his own lyrics.

Levi's Big E Trucker Jacket

Levi Strauss & Co.

West singled out this specific vintage piece as his favorite item in his wardrobe, prizing its proportion and the collector-grade 'Big E' red tab detail.

Dune (1984) Costume Design

Bob Ringwood

West cited the padded collar construction from this film's costume design as a direct structural reference for a flap detail on his Louis Vuitton sneaker design.

Retrosuperfuture Flat Top

Retrosuperfuture

West's affinity for the frame's straight browline led him to commission around twenty custom material variants, including wood, zebra print, and marble tied to his home renovation aesthetic.

Vintage Detroit Pistons Graphic T-Shirt

Alstyle Apparel

A vintage graphic tee brought to West during studio sessions that he studied closely before having its style adapted into early screenprints for his inner circle.

Vintage Leather Troupe Jacket

Unknown (vintage sourced)

A sourced vintage leather jacket that West fixated on during a styling session, directly inspiring the silhouette and color-blocking of his later cobalt-and-orange varsity jacket.

Louis Vuitton Millionaire Sunglasses

Louis Vuitton (designed by Pharrell Williams and Nigo under Marc Jacobs)

West obsessed over these rare frames before ever collaborating with the house himself; his mother arranged to have a pair flown in from France as a Christmas gift.

Adidas Rod Laver

Adidas

Executives at Adidas identified this minimalist court shoe as West's personal favorite during early meetings, prompting a custom one-of-one sample as a gift.

McDonald's Fries and Apple Pie

McDonald's

West treated McDonald's as more than fast food, publicly praising its fries and apple pie as design and cultural touchstones, going so far as to write a poem about them.

Ayre Fish Curry

The British Raj, Rogerstone, Wales

West spent over £2,000 to fly a chef and a rare five-foot fish curry across the Atlantic on a tip from Snoop Dogg, an extreme demonstration of his willingness to chase a specific dish rather than settle for local substitutes.

Keto Jerk Salmon and Omelets

Chefs Nathaniel Brown and Willie Wallace

West abruptly converted his entire studio kitchen to a ketogenic menu after complimenting his chef's physique, then lived for weeks on jerk-seasoned salmon, jerk chicken omelets, and keto French toast casserole while recording inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Mac Ferdi Cheeseburger

Ferdi, Paris

During extended stays in Paris for fashion and recording work, West repeatedly returned to this small bistro's signature cheeseburger, making it his de facto Parisian canteen order.

Volvic Water, Label Removed

Volvic

West's backstage rider for his Oxford University lecture specified that Volvic water bottles have their labels stripped off, reflecting his insistence on controlling visual clutter even in mundane hospitality items.

Hennessy V.S

Jas Hennessy & Co.

West carried and drank from a bottle of Hennessy V.S on the red carpet at the 2009 VMAs shortly before his infamous stage interruption, cementing the brand's association with his early public image.

Waffle House

Waffle House

West made a widely documented post-Grammys stop at a Waffle House in full evening wear with Kim Kardashian, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen, turning the diner chain into an incongruous late-night ritual after high-profile events.

Clam Pizza at Pasquale Jones

Ryan Hardy, Pasquale Jones, New York

During New York Fashion Week and album rollout trips, West favored this Nolita pizzeria's wood-fired clam pizza as a regular order.

Lexus ES300

Lexus

The defining vehicle of West's early life and career trajectory, whose structural safety saved his life and directly inspired his breakthrough single 'Through the Wire'.

Maybach 57

Maybach-Manufaktur (DaimlerChrysler)

Used as a canvas for industrial, high-art deconstruction during the 'Watch the Throne' era, symbolizing his disregard for conventional luxury tropes in favor of sculptural provocation.

SHERP ATV

SHERP

A central aesthetic and functional component of West's minimalist Wyoming ranch era, reflecting his obsession with industrial utilitarianism, off-grid autonomy, and monolithic shapes.

Ford F-150 Raptor Fleet

Ford Motor Company

Formed the rugged, earth-toned transport fleet of his Monster Lake Ranch operations in Wyoming, representing his shift toward industrial utility and brutalist Americana.

Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4

Automobili Lamborghini

Gifted by Kim Kardashian for his 35th birthday and finished in matte stealth black, it became one of West's most recognizable daily supercars in Los Angeles.

Lamborghini Urus (Custom Matte Beige)

Automobili Lamborghini

Served as a platform for his custom aesthetic philosophy, customized in signature Yeezy-palette earth tones paired with exaggerated monoblock dish wheels.

Mercedes-Maybach S680 (Liquid Chrome Pair)

Mercedes-Maybach

Emphasized West's continued pursuit of sculptural, reflective surfaces and high-impact arrival spectacles in contemporary pop culture.

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss

Mercedes-Benz / McLaren Automotive

One of the crowning vehicles of West's high-fashion, high-concept era in the early 2010s, capturing his affinity for radical, roofless silhouettes and aggressive luxury.

Porsche 911 Carrera 4S

Porsche AG

Functioned as West's daily driver when seeking a classic, low-profile silhouette relative to his usual radical exotics.

Bugatti Veyron Fbg par Hermès

Bugatti / Hermès

An ultra-rare pairing of hypercar engineering with Hermès leather craftsmanship, part of his late-2000s exotic car purchases.

Ensoniq ASR-10

Ensoniq

West called it his 'left hand,' relying on its internal pitch-shift function to speed up soul samples without losing sample memory — the technical basis of his early 'chipmunk soul' style.

Akai MPC2000

Akai Professional

Used alongside the ASR-10 as the rigid-timing drum sequencer that shaped the punchy drum programming on West's early hits, including 'Through the Wire.'

Roland VS-1880

Roland Corporation

West tracked portions of 'The College Dropout,' including 'All Falls Down,' directly onto this self-contained workstation; engineer Devo Springsteen kept the original Roland recording rather than re-tracking it in a professional studio because it couldn't be matched.

Commodore Amiga

Commodore

West's mother bought him this computer in seventh grade; he tried to program video games on it but found the sound software easier, redirecting him toward music production.

Gemini PT-1000 II

Gemini Sound

West recorded 'The College Dropout' using this turntable with its dust cover removed, jokingly linking the brand name to his zodiac sign.

TurboGrafx-16

NEC / Hudson Soft

West named a nostalgic favorite childhood console and cited 'Blazing Lazers' as his favorite game on it, announcing plans to title an album after the system.

Bang & Olufsen Serenata

Bang & Olufsen / Samsung

West acquired this phone in Singapore and showcased it on his blog, praising its industrial design, tactile wheel navigation, and built-in speaker quality.

Xfer Serum

Steve Duda / Xfer Records

A 2016 photo of West's studio laptop showed a browser tab searching for this wavetable synth alongside a torrent site, sparking public banter with producer Deadmau5.

Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar

Donda West

West wrote the foreword for his mother's memoir, saying it revealed details of his childhood and his parents' history he had never known.

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson

West cited Isaacson's biography as the direct blueprint for his ambitions to build an all-encompassing design ecosystem around DONDA, referencing Jobs's product philosophy explicitly.

James Turrell: Extraordinary Ideas Realized

James Turrell

West studied Turrell's monographs on light-and-space installations before filming his 'Jesus Is King' IMAX film inside Turrell's Roden Crater and funding the project.

Axel Vervoordt: Portraits of Interiors

Axel Vervoordt

West used Vervoordt's published interior monographs as a direct template for the minimalist wabi-sabi design of his Hidden Hills compound, later collaborating with Vervoordt himself.

The Holy Bible

Scripture became the organizing text behind West's Sunday Service gatherings and the 'Jesus Is King' era, reshaping his creative priorities and daily routine according to his own account.

Leonardo da Vinci

Walter Isaacson

West named this biography among texts he recommended for cross-disciplinary creative thinking, though no specific personal application beyond the mention is documented.

Blood of Two

Matthew Barney and Elizabeth Peyton

West listed this collaborative art monograph among favorites in a curated recommendation list, without further documented commentary on its content.

Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Poor Plantation

Candace Owens

West publicly praised author Candace Owens around the book's release, though his statements centered on the author and her ideology rather than specific content from the book.

Calabasas Estate (Axel Vervoordt Renovation)

Axel Vervoordt

West recruited the Belgian antiquarian to strip a sprawling suburban mansion down to bare off-white Venetian plaster volumes, declaring the proportions themselves the only decoration the home needed.

25 West Houston Street Loft

Claudio Silvestrin

This SoHo apartment's monochromatic French limestone and pearwood interior, which West lived with for years, directly informed the tonal, earthen palettes he later used for the Yeezy Season fashion lines.

Villa Savoye

Le Corbusier

West toured this landmark modernist villa outside Paris with architect Oana Stanescu during the making of Yeezus, using its once-controversial reception to justify his own polarizing creative decisions.

7815 S. South Shore Drive

The South Side Chicago house where West was raised by his mother Donda remained his core personal reference point; he later purchased the property and had a full-scale replica built at Soldier Field for the 2021 Donda listening event.

Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen

West frequented this Paris flea market during his design immersion years, sourcing mid-century French pieces by Jean Royère and Pierre Jeanneret that later anchored his home interiors.

The 12 Hawaii Studio Commandments

Kanye West

A strict set of 12 studio rules printed and posted on the walls of Avex Honolulu Studios during the recording of 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy', used to eliminate outside distractions and enforce total focus.

Formal Studio Dress Code

A daily requirement that everyone entering the studio dress in black-tie or tailored suits, instituted at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu to elevate the seriousness of the sessions.

Morning Basketball Rituals at the Honolulu YMCA

A mandatory morning basketball game at a local YMCA used as a physical and mental reset before long studio sessions during the MBDTF recording.

Barnes & Noble Architecture Magazine Browsing

A formative youth habit of spending hours in Chicago bookstores studying architecture and design magazines he could not afford to buy, later cited as the root of his interest in space and design.

Graph Paper Ideation and Spatial Sketching

Ray West

A drawing habit passed down by his father, using grid paper rather than blank sketchbooks to map out designs and layouts.

One-Hour Color Palette Debates

A studio ritual at his Yeezy atelier of spending an hour or more discussing and testing minute variations of monochromatic and earth-toned swatches, described by West as his equivalent of a relaxing walk outdoors.

Paris Flea Market Design Archaeology

A recurring habit of scouring the Paris flea markets and European design fairs to personally examine and acquire original 20th-century design pieces, which led to acquisitions like a Jean Royère sofa.

Polyphasic Power Napping

An irregular sleep pattern of brief naps taken across 24-hour studio cycles instead of consolidated overnight sleep, observed during marathon album sessions in Hawaii, Wyoming, and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Spiritual Fasting During Jesus Is King Sessions

A claimed practice of asking collaborators to join periods of fasting and personal consecration during the finalization of 'Jesus Is King', framed as a way to keep the creative environment spiritually aligned.