The tragic death of Kobe Bryant was a shock to the whole world, especially for the circumstances under which it occurred. One person that was really close to the NBA star was a rapper Kanye West. Recently, he gave an interview to GQ magazine, where he talked about the friendship with Kobe and his death. He provided the public with the details about him dealing with Bryant’s death earlier this year.
Kanye West was considered one of the main players in the hip-hop industry even before he became an artist himself. He produced songs for many popular artists like Jay-Z. He was credited to a high number of albums even before he recorded his own. 2004 and his album “College Dropout” was the milestone that will mark the rest of his career. Before that, he got over many dangerous situations in his life, like a car crash that made his jaw unopenable for a couple of weeks. So, he is no stranger to this kind of situation.
After he established himself as one of the main artists in the industry, he became recognizable for his deep and personal lyrics, that covered various topics like religion and love. This cemented his place as one of the most recognizable faces in all of hip-hop. He truly lived his music, and this was something that was recognized by the public, and, ultimately, he accumulated a large fan base from all over the world.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that he is a friend of a person such as Kobe Bryant. Kobe was known for his work ethics and his athletic performances. When he was a boy, he used to get up at 4 PM to practice. At the same time, he had various other interests outside basketball. He is surely a figure that will be missed in the world of sports. Also, he will be missed by a lot of his friends, like Kayne.
How is Kanye Coping?
If you dig up in your memories, you will surely find a legendary commercial that features Kobe speaking about what it means to be a part of the group. In the same commercial, he had a famous talk about the Mamba mentality. He gave a lecture about how success is always earned instead of given and that perfection is almost impossible, but that getting close to it is a success on its own. At the end of the commercial, Kanye asks Bryant what you need to do if you are already great.
This is probably the best way to describe the friendship between these two. Since Kobe is not around here anymore, Kanye took it up to himself to spread the legacy about his late friend. One of the ways he wants to do that is to work harder and to spread the message. All of this is in memory and honor of his dear friend Kobe Bryant.
During the interview with GQ, Kayne said that he will never be able to reach the level of determination that Bryant had. He even said that there is no move that we can’t perform and that every person in the world is a part of Kobe’s team. West was impressed with Bryant’s work philosophy and ethic and he said that he considers it an infinite level.
Similarities Between West and Bryant
Furthermore, Kanye West compared himself with Bryant. Since legendary Kobe is no longer with us, he feels like he needs to step it up and display the same things that made legendary basketball player so popular and recognized in the world. Kanye stated that Kobe’s death is a game-changer for the whole of humanity and asks for a wake-up call from people all over the world.
When it comes to the personal level, Kanye said that this occurrence presented a game-changer for himself and that he is a hip-hop version of Kobe. He even said that both of them climbed to the up at the same time. In the end, he said that he will do his best to create some kind of paradigm that will help all of humanity in honor of Kobe.
Kobe’s Legacy
Most likely, humanity will not have the full idea about what kind of loss is Bryant’s death. However, Kanye hopes that he will change that by keeping the Mamba mentality alive. Kanye was always known for his eccentricity among other traits. But it looks like that this statement of his is something that will truly leave a mark. Kanye finished his interview by talking about how Kobe’s overall impact on humanity is going to be much bigger than his NBA career and that we already have some examples that show exactly that.
