Kanye West Reportedly Planning David Bowie Tribute Album

UPDATE: 21/01/16: Turns out Kanye isn’t doing a Bowie tribute album after all.

UPDATE 20/01/16: A string of petitions have been launched in an attempt to stop Kanye West from releasing a David Bowie tribute album.

ORIGINAL STORY: Rapper Kanye West is reportedly planning to record and release a new album of David Bowie covers in honour of the late musician, who died on 10th January, aged 69.

An unnamed source has told the Daily Star (Via Mirror) that Yeezy has decided to pay tribute to Bowie’s musical legacy by covering his songs and even giving some of them a fresh Kanye-flavoured spin.

“[Kanye] is determined to carry on David’s work as a musical innovator. He says that the torch has been passed to him,” the mystery source says. “Some are straightforward cover versions with Kanye actually singing. On others he is rapping with his own lyrics over Bowie’s music.”

West is said to be spending hours in the studio working on his Bowie covers, which supposedly include new takes on songs like Changes, Heroes and Rebel, Rebel.

Meanwhile, an, uh, ~interesting~ conspiracy theory posted to Reddit is proposing that Kanye is actually on this earth “to replace Bowie”.

Citing the artwork for Bowie’s fifth album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, which was released on 6th June 1972, Redditor Zebratarted points out that Bowie is posing in front of a store called “K. West” on the album cover, which is totally true.

What’s more, the album’s first track, Five Years, supposedly points to the five years between the album’s release and West’s birth on 8th June 1977. But that’s not all.

Zebratarted notes that Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, is linked to Kanye too, because he’s “literally a black star”. Pointing to the lyrics on Blackstar‘s title track, Zebratarted highlights the lines:

Something happened on the day he died

Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside

Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried

(I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar)

Making even more strenuous connections, Zebratarted compares Kanye to Jesus (because Jesus is said to have revived Lazarus, who is referenced in Bowie’s song of the same name) and notes that three days before Bowie’s death, Sia released her song Reaper, a track which Kanye co-wrote and co-produced. Coincidence or Illuminati?

Conspiracies aside, Kanye was clearly saddened by Bowie’s passing following a largely private 18-month battle with cancer. Following the muso’s death earlier this month, Yeezy tweeted:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686449257767776256

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686449267783811072

If Kanye’s Bowie tribute album is a legit and real thing, it’s sure to cause some controversy, and Kanye is sure to be taking the whole thing very, very seriously.

Prior to Bowie’s death, Kanye also announced the release date for his highly-anticipated new album, SWISH, which is yet to be mentioned in any conspiracy theories that we know of.

Since his passing, Bowie has already been the focus of musical tributes from the likes of Sarah Blasko, Gang Of Youths, Smash Mouth and Arcade Fire, who recently hosted a huge tribute parade on the streets of New Orleans.

Gallery: 25 Iconic Pictures of David Bowie