Kanye West Says Beyoncé Is Inspired By Kim Kardashian

When Beyoncé is working on a new album, she keeps pictures of Kim Kardashian on the wall to inspire her — that’s according to Kardashian’s husband Kanye West.

In a characteristically candid interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, Kanye said that Beyoncé takes inspiration from images of his wife because “Kim represents powerful women.”

He added that the two women love and respect each other, and have a relationship with a “LeBron James-Kobe [Bryant] element to it.”

That wasn’t all he opened up about. On the subject of Kim’s notorious Paper magazine cover, Kanye said representation of her body type is an important precedent to set for younger generations: “My daughter has a chance of being shaped like my wife, so … between this age and the age when she’s like that, I’m gonna be fighting for that shape to be considered the highest of class … or at least equal to what someone looks at a skinny model for.”

See Kim Kardashian's Most Memorable Magazine Covers

Kardashian was photographed by the controversial photographer Terry Richardson for her Rolling Stone cover. In the issue she talks about Caitlyn Jenner, her marriage to Kanye West and her love for the Backstreet Boys.

Terry Richardson—Rolling Stone

From the #worldsmosttalkedaboutcouple to the #worldsmosttalkedaboutbutt. Kim Kardashian already got national attention for being naked when a sex tape went public in 2007, but as the new cover of Paper magazine suggests, it's still her body — not her multi-million dollar iPhone game, not her TV show, not her marriage to Kanye West — that has the power to "break the Internet."

Jean-Paul Goude—Paper

Kardashian called her first Vogue cover "a dream come true," while critics accused to magazine of chasing what was trendy rather than defining it. "As for the cover, my opinion is that it is both charming and touching, and it was, I should add, entirely our idea to do it," Anna Wintour said in its defense.

Annie Leibovitz—Vogue

Before Kanye and Kim posed for Vogue, they posed on the cover of the French magazine L'Officiel Hommes in 2013. Is this just a strikingly suggestive pose or actual candid moment between now-spouses? Probably a little of both when it comes to this steamy photo shoot.

Nick Knight—L'Officiel Hommes

In 2012, Kardashian graced the cover of V magazine — shot by Nick Knight, who also shot her L'Officiel Hommes cover — and defended her reality show empire in the magazine's pages by comparing it to rap music. "When rap music first came out, people were like, 'We don't understand this, what is this, it's just a fad.' But rap music is definitely here to stay, and I think reality shows have proven they are as well."

Nick Knight—V Magazine

Channeling the typographic work of the iconic American artist Barbara Kruger, the cover of W magazine's November 2010 issue found Kim Kardashian (almost) bearing it all. Inside its pages, the only layer she had on was a thin coat of silver body paint.

Mark Seliger—W Magazine

Kim Kardashian lands magazine covers because she's a familiar face, but that didn't matter to YRB. The magazine made her look near unrecognizable in a bob and dramatic makeup for a 2012 photo shoot that she later called "one of the most unique shoots [she's] ever done."

YRB

Two of America's biggest style icons met in 2009 when Kim Kardashian dressed up like Barbie, who "guest edited" an issue of Australia's Kurv magazine. But it's no surprise the star would say yes to a magazine that starts with the letter K.

Kurv

A 2009 shoot for Complex caused controversy when the magazine's website accidentally published an unretouched photo of Kim Kardashian. While it reignited the ongoing debate about beauty standards, Kardashian herself wasn't mad. "So what? I have a little cellulite," Kardashian later wrote on her website. "What curvy girl doesn't? How many people do you think are Photoshopped? It happens all the time!"

Complex

Kim Kardashian was the most-clothed person on the cover of Prestige magazine's September 2010 issue when she posed with two naked men while looking like a sexed-up gladiator. "This might be one of my most risque covers to date!" she tweeted.

Prestige

In 2012, Kim Kardashian covered New York magazine's fashion issue, which asked whether she had a place in the industry. Since then, she's only shown that the answer to that question is a resounding yes as she attended Paris Fashion Week and the Met Ball and landed that Vogue cover — a magazine that in the past has been not-so-open-minded about women with curvy figures like hers.

New York Magazine

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Kanye said he was surprised to enjoy the Beck album, which he recently criticized when it beat out Beyoncé for Album of the Year at the Grammys; he heard it playing during his dinner with Taylor Swift, he said. Meanwhile, he mentioned that he’s been meaning to call Beck about the incident, but just keeps forgetting.

He also noted that his next album is “80% done” and will get a surprise release, adding that the music will address police brutality — a subject he says he’s avoided based on advice from his father.

[Power 105.1]

Read next: What Kanye West Can Learn From the Olsen Twins

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