Kanye West is recording a Bowie tribute album - and believes he is his successor

One thing you can say about Kanye West: he's not a man short of confidence.

With his new album SWISH due any time now, he's already decided on his next musical project: a David Bowie tribute album to continue the legacy of the legendary artist's work.

According to the Daily Star, Kanye has been in the studio recording a range of cover versions of the star's hits. A source said: "Some are straightforward cover versions with Kanye actually singing. On others he is rapping with his own lyrics over Bowie's music."

Not only is the rapper planning this tribute, he feels that he is next in line to take over the boundary-pushing work of the late artist, who died last week. The source added: "He is determined to carry on David's work as a musical innovator. He says that the torch has been passed to him."

Before your cynicism rises to dangerous levels, it seems that Kanye has been a long-term fan of Bowie, and he sent a heartfelt tweet upon hearing of his death.

Despite claiming that he was the "greatest living rockstar on the planet" during his Glastonbury headline slot last summer, we're not quite sure he's in the class of old Ziggy.

However, did the great man himself predict West as the saviour of rock 'n' roll many years ago? Take a look at the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars and see if you can spot anything...

For an impression of how Kanye might go about singing some of Bowie's work, here's a recent example of the rapper covering another member of British music royalty.

(Image: Rex)