Has Kanye West come to take Bowie's place?
There are way too many conspiracy theories out there surrounding the death of David Bowie, the craziest of which suggesting that he is an alien who has simply returned to his home planet having brough the music of his people to the Earth. Sure, he has that cool eye thing going for him, but we're pretty sure he's human.
David Bowie has had conspiracy theorists going crazy
Then there's some theories that are a little spookier, such as the idea that he is in fact the John the Baptist of the music industry and has made various crazy predictions about the rise of Kanye West through his lyrics. It all started with a Blogspot page in 2007, and it was recently reopened in a Reddit thread. Explore the evidence yourself, and see if you believe.
1. The artwork for 1972 album 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars' sees Bowie standing under a sign reading 'K. West'.
2. The album itself appears to predict the birth of West. First track 'Five Years' talks about the Earth only having five more years left before it ends, while later track 'Starman' adds that it will do so unless the Starman arrives to save it. Almost five years to the day (five years and two days exactly) Kanye West was born. The story was intricately explained by Bowie in an interview with Rolling Stone.
3. The third track on 'Blackstar' is 'Lazarus', which is also a biblical character who was resurrected by Jesus. The third track on Kanye West's album 'Yeezus' is entitled 'I Am a God'.
Kanye West apparently wants to make a tribute album
4. The title 'Blackstar' is equally suggestive, as West could in fact be described as a 'black star'.
5. Kanye West was one of the first to Tweet about Bowie's death. 'As soon as Ziggy dies onstage, the infinites take his elements and make themselves visible', Bowie said in the Rolling Stone interview. And, indeed, West Tweeted his respects within an hour of the announcement of Bowie's death.
6. The lyrics of 'Blackstar' talk about someone taking the place of a dead man ('Something happened on the day he died, Spirit rose a meter and stepped aside, Somebody else took his place'). Now there's rumours that West is planning to make an album in tribute to Bowie, with a source telling the Daily Star that he wants to continue his work. Then there's lyrics like: 'I'm a blackstar, I'm not a gangster, I'm a blackstar, I'm a blackstar', which almost describes West's deliberate move away from traditional gangster rap in hip hop.
More: Watch the video for 'Black Star'
7. Kanye helped write and produce Sia's promotional single 'Reaper', released three days before Bowie's death. Pretty eerie title, wouldn't you say?
8. The lyrics to 'Starman' read: 'There's a starman waiting in the sky. He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds'. Well, it certainly describes West's less than modest approach to his songwriting.
There's a couple of bonus conspiracies for you to ponder too:
BONUS: Assisted Suicide - It's a controversial topic and much less far-fetched, but many people believe he arranged his own death following the release of his album 'Blackstar'. It is a strange and yet satisfying notion that he managed to have one last Christmas, one last birthday and one last album release just before his death, but then that doesn't necessarily mean euthanasia was involved. Suspicions arose out of the fact that he was cremated with no family or friends present and that he once lived in Switzerland where assisted suicide is legal.
BONUS: Bowie's Death Was Predicted Long Beforehand - Sure, the lyrics from 'Lazarus' were suggestive enough ('Look up here, I'm in heaven') but then it's very likely they were written with Bowie's knowledge of impending death in mind. However, the 'Black Star' symbol has been thought to be almost a death omen. The singer was good friends with T.Rex's Marc Bolan, who had his own show in 1977 in which Bowie once appeared. The transitions between each segment of the show were marked by an animated clip in which one character wore a white shirt with a black star on it. Two days after the final episode (the one in which Bowie appeared), Bolan died in a car accident. The coincidence? Bowie died two days after 'Black Star' was release, the artwork of which is a white background with a black star.
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