Since David Bowie’s tragic death on Monday, fans around the world have been coming to terms with the passing of a music icon…
Most of these have dealt with his grief in quite a standard way, leaving flowers outside his apartment, heart-felt tributes on social media etc. But others have got involved in a conspiracy theory that Bowie’s famous 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, predicted the rise of a Grammy Award-winning rapper.
Yes, really. The conspiracy which has once again popped on Reddit’s /r/conspiracy on Tuesday has thrown up evidence that Bowie’s back catalog foresaw his death and the Kanye West’s birth.
It comes to the conclusion that Bowie had chosen West to replace him and take up the mantle of being a rock ‘n’ roll innovator.
It all began back in 2007, with a Blogspot site set up, dedicated to this fan theory. It claimed to be able to prove ‘how David Bowie predicted the coming of Kanye West,’ which would make ‘David Bowie the John the Baptist of music’.
The most vital piece of evidence was the album cover of Bowie’s 1972 album cover The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars which shows the rockstar standing underneath a sign that says ‘K. West’.
It’s probably a massive coincidence in all honesty, but fans have been asking about its significance, well before Kanye emerged on the scene. Bowie, however, was quite quick to dispel any meaning behind it in an interview with Rolling Stone back in 93′, simply saying ‘People read so much into it.’
The first song on the album Five Years, also seems to predict Kanye’s birth. It claims that the world only have five years left before destruction, unless a saviour arrives, a ‘Starman’ to redeem humanity.
Five years after the album release, Kanye West is born in Atlanta.
He was one of the first big names to leave a social media tribute when Bowie passed, tweeting just an hour after the official announcement about how inspired he was by the ‘Picasso of pop’.
Also, on Bowie’s most recent album Blackstar, third track Lazarus is named after a character in the bible who is resurrected by Jesus Christ. In Kanye’s most recent album Yeezus, his third track is called I Am a God.
Commenters have even read further into Blackstar and believe West is being depicted literally as a ‘black star’. The first thing Bowie says he’s not a ‘gangstar’ which draws parallels of when West graced the music world in 2003, as he propositioned himself as an alternative to gangsta rap.
Read into this how you want. Coincidence or a genius prediction? You decide…
