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the photo above has been speculated and found to be the cover inspiration for the album cover on blonde, though it hasn't been explained clearly why, it may be because of the blonde haired kid as he expressed on his album the stories he tells about his youth and shares the lessons he learnt as he was younger. (upbeatgeek, 2022)

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Jay Z has been a massive influence on Kendrick from his formative years, continuing to inspire him to this day. Jay Z's ability to not let fame or money affect his songwriting abilities is something Kendrick has said he admires highly, he explains " You see Jay-Z. He's a billionaire. You see Dr. Dre. Jay is still on his pen game, because it's always a chase to see if you're not only still true to the culture, but still can generate a creative process that's organic for you, that can challenge yourself". (Taysom, 2021)

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The Beatles influenced frank ocean to want to make this album not just a hit album that will fade away in a few years time, but an album that will be timeless, songs that aren't just apart of a trend or wave of music but rather something that can and will be listened to for years to come. (How Frank Ocean’s “Blonde” Inspired a Wave of Raw Sincerity in Music, 2019)

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Stevie Wonder was a major influence on Frank Ocean's album Blonde as Frank actually has a song called "Close To You" which is a cover of Stevie Wonder's song. Another way Stevie Wonder influenced this album is his lyrics, and how he could relate them to certain topics such as social or romantic themes, similar themes that Frank touches on in this album. Frank is also found using Stevie's trademark melodic keyboards. (Here’s the Stevie Wonder Youtube Video That Inspired Frank Ocean’s “close to You,” 2016)

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The Lost Boys is an old classic vampire movie where two boys move to a new town filled with vampires, this happens to be Carti's favourite movie, inspiring this whole new "era" for Carti known very well as his "vamp" era by his fans. (Mckinney, 2020)

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Rick Owens, a major fashion designer for his fashion label "Rick Owens" has influenced Carti in a major way when it comes to his fashion, mentioning Rick Owens in multiple songs over his musical career and constantly seen wearing his clothing.

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Kanye West is a rapper, producer, artist and fashion designer. These factors of Kanye have influenced Carti in each way, Ye has produced many of Carti's albums/songs, most recently Whole Lotta Red, which was a massive hit inspiring a whole new wave of music. Kanye also played a part in Carti's fashion choices as Carti is seen wearing Kanye's clothing brand Yeezy.

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Dr. Dre was involved in inspiring Kendrick to pursue his music career as spoke about in Nyren & Nyren, 2017. Dre later on however actually took Kendrick under his wing as a young artist, signing Kendrick to his record label "Aftermath Entertainment" as well as producing Kendrick's first ever album "good kid m.A.A.d city". (From Snoop to Kendrick: The Legendary Artists Discovered by Dr. Dre, 2023)

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Kendrick when he was 8 years old saw Tupac & Dr. Dre filming their hit music video "California Love" in his neighbourhood. This inspired Kendrick to pursue a career in recording, followed by a passion for freestyling shortly after. Kendrick spoke about Pac's influence saying "Tupac inspired me just the simple way of how he put his words together". (Nyren & Nyren, 2017)

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Playboi Carti has been an influence on me not so much because of his lyrics like the other influences, but more of the way he's experimented with the production/creation of his music, he has never stuck with one genre of music and continuously inspires other artists by creating new sounds within his albums (eg. Whole Lotta Red, his most recent album, has inspired a new wave of music, I would almost describe it as like an electronic rock/hip-hop style of music). He also has a unique style in the way he dresses and has inspired some of my outfit choices and the type of clothes I am starting to like.

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Kendrick Lamar is widely talked about by the hip-hop community as one of the most influential rappers of the modern era. This is because of his creative producing and songwriting as well as the stories he tells in all of his songs. Kendrick Lamar was one of the first hip-hop/rap artists I listened to and was one of the main reasons why I got into a lot of hip-hop music. The way he can so smoothly talk about so many stories and just float on the beat is what has gathered him such a massive following. an example of how well he can tell stories in his music is a song called "Sing about me I'm dying of thirst", one of the longest songs he has done, but a good example of how he can rap about stories so clearly and smoothly.

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"Blonde" an album by Frank Ocean
personally one of my favourite albums of all time, the album from start to finish tells a story that really makes you feel the lyrics he's singing, it gives you a sense of the rollercoaster of emotions he experiences throughout the album. It's a bit of a comfort album for me and has influenced me in how music can really make you feel something, it inspires me to really try to add emotion to any piece of music I may be working on, or even look for it within other pieces of music.