Who is Daido Moriyama? All about the acclaimed Japanese photographer behind Kanye's new 'Bully' album cover

Kanye West shared the cover art for his upcoming album Bully on Wednesday, crediting it to Daido Moriyama — an 86-year-old Japanese photographer noted for his signature black and white portraits and street photography.

The high-contrast monochrome photo demonstrated a person squinting their eyes while showing off their teeth decked with what appears to be titanium grills — similar to that of Ye’s dentures reportedly worth around $850,000.

According to Billboard, Ye debuted Beauty & The Beast, one of the tracks from the album during a listening party for his collaborative album Vultures at China’s Wuyuan River Stadium in Hainan Province’s Haikou.

Earlier this month, music journalist Touré informed TMZ of Kanye's "upper-class homeless" life in Tokyo, Japan. The rapper reportedly moved to the city and had been recording his new album in a single hotel room.

A source close to Ye supposedly told Touré, that producing music in Japan is easier for the rapper than in L.A., where he is rarely rid of the paparazzi. The source added:

"When he's in Japan, people see him, but they’re very quiet. They're very respectful. Very seldom will they even come up and ask for a picture. So he can move around Japan with no security."

Kanye West has not yet announced a release date for his new solo album. However, the avant-garde cover art by Daido Moriyama has captured everyone's attention online.

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Kanye West's Bully cover artist Daido Moriyama and his photography style

Italian media outlet Outpump reposted Ye’s Bully cover art by Daido Moriyama on Instagram. The magazine called the image a reference to the ‘Ohaguro’ — a Japanese custom symbolizing an individual reaching adulthood from adolescence. The tradition was marked by people dyeing their teeth with a black liquid made of iron fillings and vinegar. Ohaguro was mostly practiced by married women.

Osaka-born Daido Moriyama, a student of photography moved to Tokyo in 1961 to work with VIVO, a photography group, but served as an assistant to Eikoh Hosoe, another acclaimed filmmaker and photographer. Moriyama began working on his own captures as a freelancer in 1964 and frequented the US Navy base in Yokosuka for his shots.

In 1967, the Japan Photo-Critics Association bestowed the New Artist Award on Moriyama. After joining Provoke magazine, Daido Moriyama developed an interest in the aesthetics of photos that are either blurry, grainy, or out of focus.

Daido Moriyama’s signature touch lies in black and white photography, accompanied by grains to appeal to the aesthetics. His style reflects the impaired social structures carrying the impacts of the World War II. Industrialization and urbanization are also two predominant themes in Moriyama’s early works.

Moriyama took inspiration from Andy Warhol's silkscreen photography and incorporated the style in his works in his own way.

Throughout his career, Daido Moriyama won many accolades, including the Photographer of the Year Award in 1983 from the Photographic Society of Japan, the Mainichi Art Award in 2003, the Cultural Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft for Photography in 2004, the ICP Infinity Award in 2012, the Order of Arts and Letters Chevalier honor in 2018, and the The Asahi Prize in 2020.