Kanye West is rumoured to be making a David Bowie tribute album - let's stop this!

Hahaha, go on then. Aside from Bowie who else constitutes as a "proper" musician?

Ed Sheeran.

Ed Sheeran.

Sorry for upsetting the proverbial TSR apple cart.

I suspect OP has heard about 2 Kanye songs

Three, actually:

Stronger
Power
All Day


...and they're all ****.

Ed Sheeran's performance of Bloodstream at the BRITs 2015 absolutely ****ing slaughtered Kanye's abysmal performance of All Day; the latter, of course, causing Taylor Swift to dance like a drunken mess:

Three, actually:

Stronger
Power
All Day


...and they're all ****.

Ed Sheeran's performance of Bloodstream at the BRITs 2015 absolutely ****ing slaughtered Kanye's abysmal performance of All Day; the latter, of course, causing Taylor Swift to dance like a drunken mess:

Whilst I doubt that anyone would contest that Bowie and Kanye are several leagues apart, I think it's wrong to do what you're doing. If you don't like Kanye's music then don't buy it. I'm actually a massive Bowie fan, and not much of a fan of Kanye's at all, but to say that Kanye shouldn't do a bowie tribute is insane, if it bombs (which I expect it would) then it will just end up like his Bo Rhap attempt.

Some Questions: Do you think you have better taste in music than people who listen to Kanye? Do you objectively perceive Kanye to be 'talentless'? Are you aware that, just because you do not like an artist, that does not mean they are ****, I mean, **** to you maybe, but not EVERY OTHER SENTIENT BEING? Also, you do know just saying an artist is **** in the first place does not really provide a basis for anything? It would be preferable and largely beneficial if you gave a subjective reason, rather than just saying, 'oh he's ****, this guy is waaay more talented'. You clearly have something against Kanye. Is is because he's black? I mean, you appear to be a music snob, I would not be surprised if you were racist too. I guess that is an unfair and largely offensive statement, not much unlike what you yourself are doing here. Alas, I digress. You don't have to listen to the tribute album if you don't want to. Although I have an inkling you'll probably buy it on vinyl and masturbate to it in the depths of your secret Kanye shrine where you sacrifice your blood everyday in the name or lord Kanye. Long Live Yeezy. Amen.

P.S. I'm not a fan of Kanye. I mean, his early stuff was great, incredible in fact, but what he releases now is way too egotistical and thus unlike-able. He raps about fashion and so I couldn't give two ****s. Bowie is a genius and Blackstar is a magnificent album exploring his own death, something strange and painfully sad. Blow me.

Really? Bowie's career spans 50 years, 5 UK number one singles spanning 13 weeks at the top spot.

Whether or not you like the bloke, you have to admit it's one hell of a portfolio. To say that Kanye's career compares to Bowie's is as deluded as those 12 year olds who think that One Direction compare with The Beatles.

I'm not even a music fascist/elitist or anything like that. I appreciate good artistry, and there's no short supply of that in Kanye, but Kanye doesn't even have anything on Snoop or Dre, let alone one of the most influential musicians that's graced the world.

[video="youtube;Tgcc5V9Hu3g"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g[/video]

Longevity yeah, obviously there's no comparison, and likely never will be as you don't get rap albums from people in their 70s. And for that reason you could put Bowie over Kanye, but it was the "several leagues apart" that I disagreed with more. It just doesn't seem fair to say someone can't be put above (or even close to) Bowie until they've had that sort of longevity, no matter how good they've been.
Quality over quantity, and a full 50% of Kanye's albums are considered among the best in his genre, with all the others also very highly rated. See here, even his worst album has got 9/10s and 5 stars. You can't say the same for Bowie, in fact several of his albums are considered quite bad (Never Let Me Down, Tonight, Hours and more).

Not that the charts are a brilliant way of recognising the best music, but 13 weeks at the top in 50 years is pretty terrible. Kanye got 10 weeks from one song.

Wrt Snoop and Dre, I completely disagree. Snoop is a better rapper, but not even close as an artist. Dre is a (marginally) better producer, but not much of a rapper himself, writes none of his own lyrics etc.

The difference is that Kanye emerged into a genre that was already big, Hip Hop, whilst with Bowie even today it's difficult to put him into one Genre, it's overly simplistic to call him rock and it means nothing to call him pop. With Bowie each single, each album was unchartered territory, as soon as someone could put him into one category he'd emerge as something completely different. Infusing elements from all over the musical spectrum, his creativity (I believe) is unmatched. As for his influence, it knows no bounds. It's understandable that not every one of his albums or singles will be a success because each album was a new venture for him, and the world as a whole as listeners.

Re. Hip Hop though, I'm actually a big listener, and though it may be cliched it's cliched for a reason, Eminem holds the top spot. With Bowie it's different because with each album came uncharted territory, from classic rock, to dance, to electronica, to whatever you want to call it, there's not one brush that you can paint him with, but that's just not the case with Kanye. Kanye is a product of several years of Hiphop, whereas Bowie paved the way himself. It's because of this that they're several leagues apart.

For the record, I do quite like Kanye, Yeezus was a brilliant album, one of the best produced albums I've ever heard in fact, but I don't think it'll hold up for 50 years. I don't think in 50 years time people will still be singing "stronger" (probably his best known song) yet "Space Oddity" has held up. Kanye is brilliant, but despite that, he's not special.

It's not even elitism, it's just matter of fact. Kanye hasn't even influenced Hip Hop to the extent that Bowie influenced music as a whole.