Kanye West is putting the finishing touches on one of the most anticipated albums in Hip-Hop, as he wraps up The Graduate. The Graduate is the follow up to his two critically acclaimed albums The College Dropout and Late Registration.
Expect to see a variety of collaborators on the album such as Lil' Wayne, but also expect collaborators off the album. One of those collaborators is Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, whom Ye has been working with lately.
Murakami, who designed for Louis Vuitton, also helped The Louis Vuitton Don for the artwork on Ye's latest single "Can't Tell Me Nothing." Beyond this, he has helped design a necklace for West, and has also created an animated video clip for a track on the newest LP from the Chicago native.
"He did a three-minute animated piece for one of the songs...Murakami, his work has been stunning to me because pop art is really expressive, representative and expressive and emotional, and it looks like something you can do yourself. [But] you cannot do no Murakami sh-- yourself. You cannot do this at home. He has this studio out in Japan that has 30 artists working at one time. I love Japanese culture and I was always into art, and Murakami is really a god in the art world," Ye told MTV of his collaborative endeavors.
Later, West insisted that Murakami's artwork will also be seen on other Kanye projects in the near future.
"Every single that's coming out for my album, he did the artwork for the covers. ... And all the merchandising for the new album is Murakami."
The Chicago MC is currently planning a tour, which will be called "Glow in the Dark." No dates have been set yet but keep your eyes and ears open as they will be coming along soon.
Source; http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.5 ... o-graduate
