I actually saw this a few days ago but didn’t look into it– the headline was just “Kanye West Becomes a Jewelry Designer,” so what did I care?

But today I stumbled upon it again and looked closer. It turns out he’s actually working on his jewelry line with Japanese superflat artist Takashi Murakami, who also designed the cover of his latest album.

He apparently debuted a sample piece on the third, wearing a “huge gold Manga-style diamond-studded pendant around his neck.” I don’t know what a Manga-style pendant is, but don’t worry, it won’t be all diamonds:

Shedding more light on the pieces in his forthcoming collection, West told Women’s Wear Daily: “They’ll be more accessible, they won’t be all diamonds.”

Wacky!

Seriously, two weeks in a row (the 9/28 issue and the 10/5 issue), Entertainment Weekly has featured some otaku culture. First it was Takashi Murakami’s cover design for Kanye West, and then this week it’s Witchblade. Okay, okay, I know there are specific western attachments for both of those, since Kanye West is an American rapper and Witchblade was originally an American comic, but still.

Hit the jump to see some bits from the article (but I’m not reprinting them in their entirety, for the sake of having SOME semblence of respect for copyright). Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, I know I wrote this asking Kanye West whether he’s “just another otaku,” but I wasn’t actually expecting him to be a real anime fan.

And yet, now we know for sure that Kanye is honest-to-god anime otaku. How? Because he apparently “loves anime porn.” Or at least, hentai scenes were reportedly shown along with “hyperviolent Korean cinema” when his new album was playing at a party in his honor.

He also said that blogs “fuel his insecurity.” So, allow me to contribute: Kanye, do you really wank to hentai? OR ARE YOU FAKING?

Okay, I don’t follow rap . I pretty much only know Kanye West as “that rapper who said a bunch of funny shit after he failed to win some award.” And as that guy who did that anime-style music video and was going to make a manga at some point.

But all that just seemed like an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Japanese pop culture. This, on the other hand, is actually kinda neat. Kanye’s latest album cover features work by superflat artist Takashi Murakami, who I mentioned a few times back on aO - his work was on display in New York City not too long ago.

Okay, Kanye, I’m paying attention. Are you just another otaku, or are you going to do something interesting here?