Kanye reportedly spent $112k on a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-strewn bathroom

KANYE West has reportedly dropped a whopping $112,000 on an image of a late celebrity’s drug-strewn bathroom — to use as an album cover.

KANYE West reportedly spent $112,000 to use a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-strewn bathroom as the cover of Pusha T’s new album.

During an interview with Angie Martinez (via Consequence Of Sound) this week, rapper Pusha T revealed West scrapped the artwork for Pusha T’s forthcoming album, Daytona, and replaced it with a grim image of what he claims is the late singer’s bathroom.

“1am, my phone rings, no caller-ID,” Pusha told Martinez of the moment West told him. “‘Hey, yeah, I think that we should change the artwork. I like this other artwork.’ Now this other artwork is [US] 85 grand [$A112,000]. I said, ‘Hey, I don’t want to pay for that. And I wasn’t even going to ask you to pay for that. We picked what we picked. It’s here, it’s ready.’ ‘No, this what people need to see to go with this music. I’m a pay for that.’”

The infamous photo of Whitney’s bathroom was splashed across magazine covers.

The image, taken in 2006, allegedly depicts Houston’s bathroom littered with drugs and drug paraphernalia. The singer was found dead in a hotel bathtub in February 2012.

“Um, it’s a picture,” he explained. “It’s a picture. … It’s just a picture that to license it worldwide is 85 grand. I’m not really too, too, too entrenched in the art world like that. I’m just going to let him do that thing. And he’s paying for it.”

Kanye’s known for making controversial decisions. Picture: AFP Photo/Justin Tallis

Houston died in 2012. Picture: AFP Photo DDP/Joerg Koch

This isn’t the first time Kanye has flirted with using a controversial image as the artwork for one of the five new releases he’s currently working on during his latest bout of creativity.

Late last month, he announced plans use an image of Dr Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who performed his late mother’s final operation before her death, as the cover of his upcoming solo album.

Dr Adams wrote West an open letter urging the rapper not to use the photo.

Representatives for Houston’s estate, Pusha T and West did not immediately return requests for comment.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is republished here with permission.