Kanye West, the multi award-winning and outspoken rapper, is reportedly due to join fellow US artists 50 Cent and Ice-T in making the leap from vinyl to celluloid.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, West is to executive produce and appear in a film inspired by his music. The New Line Cinema project will be a "multi perspective portrait of the United States as seen through the eyes of West and several film-makers".

What that means in practice is that 10 to 12 directors and six writers will craft short stories to be linked by a central narrative, backed by new and old music by West, and overseen by George C Wolfe, who directed the Emmy-winning TV mini-series Lackawanna Blues.

Now 28, Kanye West was a music producer before taking the microphone himself to release two critically-acclaimed, multimillion-selling albums, The College Dropout and Late Registration. He courted controversy last year when he claimed, during a televised benefit concert for victims of hurricane Katrina: "George Bush doesn't care about black people".