Kanye West will marry his model girlfriend Amber Rose, according to reports.

The “Gold Digger” rapper is reportedly planning to whisk the former stripper away to a villa in the Dominican Republic early next year to propose.

“He has really bonded with her since losing his mother and needs another strong woman in his life,” a friend blabbed to Britain’s Daily Star Friday. “He’s very serious, otherwise he wouldn’t be spending that much money on her.”

Kanye – whose mother Donda West passed away in November 2007 from complications of a cosmetic surgery procedure – has dealt with a mirage of bad press in the past year, most stemming from his self-glorifying remarks and his stage-crashing of country starlet Taylor Swift at last summer’s MTV VMA.