Kanye West paid $85,000 to license a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-filled bathroom for the cover of Pusha T’s new album “Daytona,” which was released today. The image, which was taken in Houston’s Atlanta home in 2006 after an alleged drug binge, features a multitude of drugs and paraphernalia. Pusha told radio host Angie Martinez Thursday that West, who produced the entire album, changed the artwork at the very last minute. “He changed my artwork last night at 1 a.m. He wasn’t feeling it,” Pusha told Martinez. “The [original] artwork — it was pictures that we all agreed on. He picked the photographer, I took these pictures, I was like, ‘Yo, these are fresh.’ I picked all of these pictures out, he had a little edit to it, how he wanted the actual grading of the picture to look. Picked the picture, great, we look, boom, boom, boom, it’s good.” Pusha said that West paid for the artwork out of his own pocket. “This is what people need to see to go along with this music,” Pusha quoted West as saying. The image has been altered slightly from its original rendition, which appeared on the cover of the National Enquirer: a beer can has been removed, presumably for copyright reasons. Pusha also said that West’s own album, which is due next week, may clarify some of the rapper’s recent controversial comments about Donald Trump and other matters, although he is somewhat vague on how that clarification takes place. “He’s speaking on a lot on this album,” he said. “And I feel like he even speaks it clearer and messages it clearer and better through the music. That’s where you can see a bit of like, OK, you’re asking these questions. You’re saying these things to get this type of emotion or just get an answer for something else. I feel like it’s better there.” https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/999877650087690240 VARIETY VIDEO:<doc-sep>Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission. "That's really disgusting that he would do that," Bobby Brown told Rolling Stone “Why would he post that on his album cover? That’s really disgusting that he would do that,” Brown, 49, told Rolling Stone on Wednesday. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “That’s in really bad taste. Something should happen to Kanye. He’s already crazy. I knew that when I first met him. Now he’s pushing the bar a little bit,” the singer said, adding, “He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.” bobby-brown-kanye-west Bobby Brown; Kanye West | Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty; Craig Barritt/Getty Houston, who struggled with drug addiction, was married to Brown from 1992 until 2007 and the pair had one child, daughter Bobbi Kristina, who died at age 22 in July 2015. Three years before Bobbi Kristina’s death, Houston was found dead in a bathtub at The Beverly Hilton hotel in February 2012. The icon’s death was ruled an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use also to blame. In August 2012, her autopsy stated she also had marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl and other medication in her system. Want to keep up on the latest from PEOPLE? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our best stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox. In 2006, the National Enquirer featured the photo showing Houston’s bathroom filled with drug-covered spoons and drug paraphernalia on its cover, which had been taken secretly by a family member in 2006 as the late singer struggled with drug addiction. West paid $85,000 to license the photo but it is not clear who he paid to use the image. On Friday, Houston’s cousin, Damon Elliott, slammed West for using the photo of the late singer’s drug-strewn bathroom, telling PEOPLE, “I immediately got sick to my stomach because it took me right back to six years ago. I was actually in shock. I didn’t think [West] would go this far in invading someone’s family privacy.” Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Houston’s nephew, Gary Michael, defended West, telling Good Morning America in a statement: “Not to be divisive, but I’m of a different mindset when it comes to situations like this. People will automatically look to people like Pusha T and Kanye West and try to place blame or say they have ill or malicious intent to gain publicity. But I get it. I get the correlation (sans my aunt but the photo itself).” Gary Michael added, “Bottom line — they are artists and in this day and age, if they can afford to pay someone for usage of that photograph in order to convey a visual message to accompany their musicianship…then so be it.” whitney-houston-bobby-brown Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown in October 2005 | Credit: Lester Cohen/WireImage Recently, Pusha T, 41, revealed that while he and West were originally intending to use different cover art for his new album DAYTONA, which West produced, the father of three ultimately changed his mind at the last minute. “One a.m., my phone rings. No caller ID. [He says,] ‘Hey, yeah, I think we should change the artwork. And I like this other artwork. And this other artwork is 85 grand,’ ” Pusha T recalled during his May 23 appearance on The Angie Martinez Show.<doc-sep>Bobby Brown has some strong thoughts on the controversial Whitney Houston bathroom photo that Kanye West chose for Pusha T's new album, DAYTONA. "Why would he post that on his album cover?" the former New Edition singer -- who was married to Houston from 1992 to 2007 -- told Rolling Stone on Wednesday. "That's really disgusting that he would do that. That's in really bad taste." West was in hot water over the use of the photo of the late singer's drug-filled bathroom, which was reportedly taken by a family member in 2006 when Houston was supposedly in the depths of her drug addiction. The "I Will Always Love You" songstress tragically died on Feb. 11, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. Her death was attributed to an accidental drowning in a bathtub combined with drug use. "Something should happen to Kanye. He's already crazy. I knew that when I first met him," Brown continued. "Now he's pushing the bar a little bit. He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I'm just the person to do it." As ET previously reported, West -- who produced Pusha T's latest project -- paid $85,000 to obtain the rights to the controversial pic. Additionally, in an exclusive statement to ET, Houston's estate expressed that they are "extremely disappointed in Kanye's choice" to use that photo. "Even in Whitney’s death, we see that no one is exempt from the harsh realities of the world," the statement said. See more on the controversy in the video below. RELATED CONTENT: Whitney Houston Estate Responds to Kanye West's Usage of Controversial Bathroom Photo (Exclusive) Whitney Houston’s Cousin Says Kanye West Is ‘Absolutely Disgusting’ For Using Bathroom Photo as Album Cover Kanye West Paid $85K to Put Whitney Houston's Controversial Bathroom Photo on Pusha T's Album Whitney Houston's Family Responds to Pusha-T's Controversial Album Art (Exclusive) This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors. If you are using ad-blocking software, please disable it and reload the page. Related Gallery<doc-sep>Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) If Bobby Brown ever catches up with Kanye West, it won’t be pretty. The ‘90s R&B bad boy is pissed that West, 40, used a snapshot of Whitney Houston’s bathroom from 2006, which was filled with drug paraphernalia, as the cover art for Pusha-T’s new album, “Daytona.” “Why would he post that on his album cover?” Brown, 49, wondered in a Rolling Stone interview. “That’s really disgusting that he would do that.” West reportedly paid $85,000 to license the photo. “That’s in really bad taste,” Brown added. “Something should happen to Kanye. He’s already crazy. I knew that when I first met him. Now he’s pushing the bar a little bit.” Brown continued, “He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.” Brown and Houston infamously married in 1992 and divorced in 2007. Houston died in 2011 and the couple’s only child, Bobbi Kristina Brown, died in 2015.<doc-sep>
“Why would he [put] that on his album cover?” the Roxbury native and former New Edition singer told Rolling Stone . “That’s really disgusting that he would do that. That’s in really bad taste.” Maybe you’ve read that the cover of Pusha-T ’s new album “Daytona” is a picture of Whitney Houston ’s bathroom counter littered with the residue of her hard-partying lifestyle. Houston’s ex-husband Bobby Brown (inset) did, and he’s upset about it. Pusha-T posted the image on Instagram — caption: “I finally got my album art” — and many people protested. Word is Kanye West, who produced the LP, paid $85,000 to license the photo, which was taken in the bathroom of Houston’s house in Atlanta in 2006. (Houston was found dead, submerged in a bathtub, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 2012.) “Something should happen to Kanye,” Brown said. “He’s already crazy. I knew that when I first met him. Now he’s pushing the bar a little bit. He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.” Whitney Houston’s estate issued a statement saying it is “extremely disappointed in Kanye’s choice” for the album cover. “Even in Whitney’s death, we see that no one is exempt from the harsh realities of the world,” Houston’s estate said. But Houston’s nephew defended Pusha-T. “Not to be divisive, but I’m of a different mindset when it comes to situations like this,” Gary Michael Houston, the son of Houston’s older brother Michael, said in a statement. “Bottom line — they are artists and in this day and age, if they can afford to pay someone for usage of that photograph in order to convey a visual message to accompany their musicianship . . . then so be it.” Whitney Houston is the subject of a new documentary, titled simply “Whitney,” coming out July 6. And Brown is the subject of a two-part biopic, titled “The Bobby Brown Story,” due out this fall on BET.