RIP Kanye West Twitter trend is a hoax

Fake rumours have emerged online this morning claiming rap superstar Kanye West is dead.

The story circulating on the web is that West was killed in a car accident in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon.

The original source of the rumour is unknown but some commentators are blaming an edited Wikipedia entry, a post on Yahoo Answers and a news story on a tabloid newspaper's website.

RIP Kanye West has become one of the top trending topics on Twitter and searches relating to the story dominate the top 10 most searched for terms in Google Hot Trends.

There has been no announcement on Kanye West's official site.