Kevin Durant: Kanye West’s Albums Inspired Me to Make My Own Music

Kevin Durant is more than just a basketball player; he is also a musician, having released several albums. His most recent body of work was a feature on Stalley’s song ‘Scared Money’, released in February 2024. One Artist captivated his interest years ago and inspired him to venture into the music world. It was none other than Kanye West.

Durant joined the Aux Money podcast in which he discussed the catalyst that pushed him to start making music. It took a leap of faith for him to venture outside his comfort zone. But two iconic albums from Kanye changed his entire perception of music. He said,

“It was College Dropout, it was Late Registration. Those two, how Kanye sampled music, I was always intrigued on how he did that sh*t. I was doing research on how he made beats on YouTube. Eventually, I wanted to try to make beats on my own so I bought a beat machine like 2009. So I just started building from there but it was just Kanye really got me into trying to understand what production means.”

Kanye West has had a profound impact on the evolution of hip-hop. Durant explains that the impact reached him, although he was only a music consumer at the time. The former MVP praises Kanye’s College Dropout and Late Registration albums for launching his music career.

West’s exceptional ability to sample music in his beats inspired Durant to try his hand at duplicating the same magic. It made KD research Kanye’s techniques in detail, hoping to learn something from the rap icon.

Despite being a huge Kanye fan, KD was obsessed with only one artist during the 2024 Olympics. Anthony Edwards revealed the superstar rapper that dominated the Suns forward’s playlist.

Durant’s fandom toward Drake

During the Paris Olympics, Kevin Durant was only interested in listening to Drake. Team USA teammate Anthony Edwards revealed the star forward’s love for the Canadian superstar’s songs.

“Man, KD only wanna listen to Drake,” Edwards said. “I was with him the whole time, so I was listening to nobody but Drake.”

Durant only played Drake’s music during Team USA’s tenure in Paris. Furthermore, he seemingly had control over Team USA’s playlist, and so his teammates listened to a lot of Drake’s music as well.

Durant is not just Drake’s fan, but also a close friend. Their friendship has even expanded into business, with KD assisting with the rap artist’s efforts. In 2023, Durant was named as an executive producer on Drake’s ‘Scary Hours 3’ EP.

Of course, KD’s main goal is to win a championship with the Suns. However, he has continued to maintain a presence in the music industry while exploring producing as well.