West's early sound was largely influenced by 1990s hip hop music, particularly that of the East Coast. Despite hailing from Chicago, West expressed a preference for New York artists, tailoring both his lyricism and fashion sense after rappers such as Raekwon and Nas. He recalled, "I used to love people like Wu-Tang Clan, Biggie, and Nas—people that sold records. I liked Common okay, you know, since he was from Chicago, but I wanted to dress like Nas." Regarding production, according to No I.D., who mentored him from age 14, West "made Puffy-style poppish beats." Sharing similar sentiments, West's close friend and collaborator singer-songwriter and musician John Legend once described him as "the singsongy rapper/producer with the overtly pop sensibility." West also claims that he used to make beats reminiscent of Timbaland and DJ Premier. Alongside DJ Premier, the soulful nature of his early production bears an influence of Prince Paul, while the slightly off-kilter drum-machine beats he crafted for tracks reflect J Dilla. While speaking on the late producer, West praised Dilla's ability concerning drums. He asserted, "That man was a genius. Whatever he could do to tweak that MPC the way he worked. He worked it in a different type of way." West subsequently developed a hip hop production style driven by melodic and rhythmic hooks derived from samples of classic soul records. He would take cues from the traditional sounds of early 1990s New York City hip hop, with an emphasis on infectious looped samples and dense drums or percussion, and channel the aesthetic through contemporary record production while polishing it to a pop sheen.