If Zeppelin gave Ye the attitude, U2 gave him the texture. The production on My Beautiful Dark Twashed Fantasy and Yeezus owes a debt to the sonic landscapes of The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby .
Kanye saw that Bono could be a political figure, a philanthropist, and a global celebrity all at once. This gave West the "permission" to branch out into fashion design, architecture, and performance art. He stopped seeing himself as a musician and started seeing himself as a "creative director" of his own universe. The Legacy of the Mash-up kanye west u2 led zeppelin inspiration
In the early 2000s, Kanye West was known as a hip-hop producer with a love for soul samples. But his real obsession? . He’d listen to U2’s The Joshua Tree and Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti back-to-back, not for guitar solos, but for architecture —how U2 built an anthem from a single delay-drenched guitar note, how Zeppelin made a folk riff feel like a thunderstorm. If Zeppelin gave Ye the attitude, U2 gave him the texture
Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham is arguably the most sampled drummer in history, and West inherited that obsession with "big drums." During the Yeezus era, West’s lean toward industrial, distorted, and aggressive sounds mirrored the raw power of Zeppelin’s "When the Levee Breaks." He moved away from the polished "bling" era of hip-hop to embrace a darker, more textured sonic palette that prioritized mood and impact over traditional melody—a hallmark of the Jimmy Page school of production. The Concept of the "Rock Star" Rapper This gave West the "permission" to branch out