Kobe Bryant’s death changed the way Kanye West "looks at life".
The NBA star tragically passed away in January when he and eight others – including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna – lost their lives during a helicopter crash.
And Kanye – who dubbed the sporting legend as one of his "best friends" – has now said he thinks about Kobe whenever he drives past the area in Calabasas, California, where the crash took place.
He said: "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. 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, 42, says Kobe’s death has been a "game-changer" for him, and insists he will no longer "take any mess for an answer".
Speaking to GQ magazine – for which he was interviewed just days after Kobe’s death in January – he said: "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. 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 thing – 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."
At the time of Kobe’s passing, Kanye’s wife Kim Kardashian West took to social media to pay her respects to the basketball star and his daughter, as she also sent her love to Kobe’s wife Vanessa and their other three daughters, Natalia, 17, Bianka, three, and Capri, nine months.
She wrote: "My heart is so heavy. No one should ever experience what the families involved are going through. This has affected us all so much but I cannot begin to imagine what Vanessa is feeling losing her husband and her baby girl. I cry just thinking about it. I am praying for the Bryant family, the Altobelli family and the families of all who perished in this unthinkable tragedy. Rest In Peace Legend."
Kanye West’s outlook on life changed by Kobe Bryant’s death
