Kanye West reveals death of ‘one of my best friends’ Kobe Bryant was ‘a game changer’ for him: ‘He was the basketball version of me’
Kanye West revealed that the death of ‘one of my best friends’ Kobe Bryant was ‘a game changer for me.’
Kobe died aged 41 this January with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
‘He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts!’ Kanye, 42, said in a GQ interview conducted three days after Kobe’s death.
Longtime bond: Kanye West revealed that the death of ‘one of my best friends’ Kobe Bryant was ‘a game changer for me’; the pair are pictured at the World Music Awards in 2004
Kanye shared: ‘One thing I thought was really amazing is that we were able to find a groove with the photographs today even as out of it as I was with the loss of Kobe. We were able to just go to the court and play ball.’
The rap icon, who lives in Calabasas with his wife Kim Kardashian and their four children, reflected on driving along Las Virgines Road where the helicopter crashed.
‘There’s one street that I drive to go from either my office or my home to the property where the domes were built. So now there’s no way for me not to be as determined as Kobe every time I drive down that street. It’s game time,’ he said.
‘There’s no move that we can’t make, or that we’ll wait to make. Everyone in our life is now a member of the Lakers on one of Kobe’s championship teams. The way that Kobe would say that we all have to come together and win this championship is the way I look at life now. To an infinite, other level,’ Kanye went on.
Paying their respects: He and Kim could also be spotted in the audience at the NBA All-Star Game in Chicago this February where a tribute was held in memory of Kobe
Throwback: ‘He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts! We got the commercials that prove it’; one of their ads is pictured
Remember when: The duo starred in Nike ads together, including one commercial for the basketball star’s Kobe System shoes (pictured)
‘This is a game changer for me. He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts! We got the commercials that prove it.’
The duo starred in Nike ads together, including one commercial for the basketball star’s Kobe System shoes.
In one ad, Kanye plays a villain making an escape on a helicopter – until Kobe throws an explosive basketball at the aircraft which bursts into flames and crashes.
Cover boy: West is on the front of GQ magazine with the tag line, ‘his next frontier’
The way they were: When Kobe played his final game for the Lakers in 2016 before retiring, Kanye was at the Staples Center to cheer him on (pictured)
Kanye told GQ: ‘No one else can say this. We came up at the same time, together. And now it’s like, yeah, I might have had a reputation for screaming about things – but I’m not taking any mess for an answer now. We’re about to build a paradigm shift for humanity. We ain’t playing with ’em. We bringing home the trophies.’
Kobe and Kanye were friends for many years and the basketball star even contributed to the rapper’s remix of his single Power in 2010.
When Kobe played his final game for the Lakers in 2016 before retiring, Kanye was at the Staples Center to cheer him on.
In memoriam: This January 26, hours after the helicopter crash, Kanye paid tribute to the victims during his weekly Sunday Service
This January 26, hours after the helicopter crash, Kanye paid tribute to the victims during his weekly Sunday Service.
He and Kim could also be spotted in the audience at the NBA All-Star Game in Chicago this February where a tribute was held in memory of Kobe.
The couple, along with Kim’s sister Khloe Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner, also attended the tribute event to Kobe and Gianna and the Staples Center that month.
Family: The couple, along with Kim’s sister Khloe Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner, also attended the tribute event to Kobe and Gianna and the Staples Center that month
Source: Read Full Article