Kanye Paid $85K to Use Whitney’s Drug-Filled Photo as Pusha T’s Album Art

Kanye West spent $85,000 to license a picture of the late Whitney Houston’s drug-infested bathroom to use as the cover art for Pusha-T’s latest album, Daytona.

album 1 PUSHA T DAYTONA dropping 2mrw pic.twitter.com/M1UPvax5fa

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 24, 2018

According to TMZ, the photo was taken in 2006 of a bathroom in Houston’s home after an alleged drug binge. The sink was littered with drug paraphernalia including a crack pipe, a white powdery substance, cigarettes and liquor, which can be seen in the photo. Pusha T is known for rapping about cocaine and the effects of drug culture on his community.

The rapper appeared on the Angie Martinez Show on Wednesday (May 23), where he revealed West swooped his original cover for the insanely priced Houston photo at the last minute.

“The artwork, it was pictures that we all agreed on, so he picked this photographer who took these pictures… he had a little edit…” Pusha T said. “[At] 1 a.m. my phone rings, no caller ID, ‘Yo!’ ‘Hey, yeah, I think we should change the artwork, and I like this other artwork’ – now this other artwork is $85,000.” After telling Ye he did not want to pay for the new image, the producer paid for it himself.

Daytona is available on all streaming platforms.