Sir Paul McCartney listens to Kanye West and other hip hop stars for 'educational purposes'

Sir Paul McCartney catapulted to fame in the 60s as a member of one of the biggest rock groups ever, but the ability to constantly reinvent himself has meant that the Beatles legend has remained relevant for over five decades.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the 74-year-old rocker revealed that he draws inspiration from talent artists all over the world and various genres, admitting he even goes to hip hop concerts for educational purposes. He said: "I listen to it for, you could call it, education. I hear a lot of it and go to concerts occasionally. I went to see Jay Z and Kanye when they toured. I've seen Drake live. It's the music of now."

McCartney also praised his frequent collaborator Kanye West. The prolific songwriter teamed up with the self-proclaimed 'King of Rap' on his tracks All Day, FourFiveSeconds and Only One. "I think Kanye's a great artist," he said. "Take My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I played it when I was cooking, and it was like, 'This is good. There's some really innovative stuff.'"

The 21-time Grammy Award winning icon added that Kim Kardashian's husband creative style reminded him of artist Andy Warhol. "I'd heard things like, he's got a room full of guys working on riffs, and he walks around going, 'I like that one'. It reminded me of Andy Warhol, these artists who use students to paint their backgrounds and things. It's a well-used technique. I thought, 'I don't know how I'm going to fit into that, but let's see. Here goes nothing.'"

Back in July, McCartney celebrated another career milestone after being named the UK's most successful albums artist of all-time. According to The Official Charts Company, the British pop icon has spent 191 weeks on the albums chart and also has the record for the most weeks spent at Number 1.

"Okay, you know how it really feels? It feels unbelievable, because when you write your songs you don't count how well they're doing," he said of the impressive feat. "I remember when Please, Please Me went to Number 1, that was our first Number 1 record, and it's a beautiful feeling to suddenly get this [award], I mean it's amazing."