The musician Kanye West listens to “twice as much as anything else”
Kanye West is a fan of all genres of music. He was influenced by James Brown just as much as Jay-Z and The Pharcyde just as much as James Brown. Ye’s musical taste has continued to evolve, dabbling in genres such as synth-pop, industrial music and gospel across his albums.
Another inspiration of his is Thom Yorke and Radiohead. In 2008, Kanye revealed he listens to the Wellingborough-born musician more than any artist worldwide. He also named several other artists who were inspiring him at the time.
“I listen to Radiohead more than anything else. Like, twice as much as anything else,” he told 103.5 KTU. “I listen to Thom Yorke and Radiohead, then after that, I listen to Feist. I listen to MIA, Róisín Murphy. I listen to Amy Winehouse.”
Kanye once described ‘Love Lockdown’, the lead single from his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak, in a Fader interview as “Thom Yorke in the strip club.” However, Ye was annoyed with Yorke the following year after he allegedly blanked him at the Grammy Awards. It’s claimed he dissed the Radiohead singer in a tirade cut from his VH1 Storytellers episode.
A Reuters report alleged that “West was aggrieved that Radiohead singer Thom Yorke had allegedly snubbed him backstage at the Grammys five days earlier. That hurt, West told the audience, because he idolises the British band, and considers it one of his few creative rivals.” Kanye is said to have told the crowd, “So when he performed at the Grammys, I sat the fuck down.”
Following the news, Yorke addressed Kanye’s comments on Radiohead’s blog. He wrote, “Wish us all a safe journey if you still like us and you’re not one of those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing xx.”
Yorke mentioned Ye again in 2018 during an interview with El Mundo. When asked if “music can provoke a reaction in people,” he replied, “Yes, when they listen to Kanye West,” before bursting into laughter.
Kanye rapped over a Yorke instrumental in 2007. As part of the Child Rebel Soldier (CRS) supergroup alongside Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell, he released a song called ‘Us Placers’ that sampled Yorke’s ‘The Eraser’ from the Nigel Godrich-produced album of the same name.
He raps in the song, “Lifestyles of the broke and famous/ Let you know how crazy this game is/ Look at all the new, beautiful faces/ At home, supermodel MySpaces/ Long for they shot on the TV screens/ American Idol never seen these dreams/ Just last week, they want to see ID/ Now, they got you in VIP, huh?”
Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien revealed he had a conversation with Kanye about artists’ relationships to faith and God at Rio de Janeiro Carnival. “I said, ‘If you asked pretty much any British musician whether they believed in God, I’d tell you that 99% of them would say, ‘Don’t be stupid, of course not,’” he said on the Ninja Tune Podcast. “It blew his mind. He was like, ‘You cannot be serious.'” Despite having a chat, O’Brien claimed Ye “wasn’t interested” in him “at all.”