VIDEO: Kanye West Replaces Teeth With Diamonds

The way things are going, Kanye West will actually own a phoenix before the year is through. The over-the-top rapper made a surprise appearance on Wednesday's The Ellen DeGeneres Show, popping out of the floor in the middle of the previous segment.

He sported a very sparkly new accessory: diamond teeth replacement. "I just thought that diamonds were cooler. It's just something that rock stars are supposed to do," he said.“You just put it on top of your teeth?” DeGeneres asked. “No,” West said. “It’s, like, replaced my bottom row of teeth.” As the talk show host continued her disbelief, West shrugged it off. "There's just certain stuff that rock stars are supposed to do," he said.

The crowd went crazy for the rapper, 33, who talked candidly about his year off. "I literally left America, stopped doing music," he said. "I went to Japan to get away from paparazzi... then I moved to Rome... then I moved to Hawaii for six months." But ultimately, he couldn't keep himself from sharing the gift of his artistry with the world. "When I finally decided to go back to music, I realized the power I had in that space, and the responsibility I had to keep on pushing the genre forward," he said. "I feel like a soldier of culture."

Soldier of culture, but never again an awards show audience member. After the Taylor Swift incident, West described how his entire world had crashed "out of a single moment of sincerity... or alcohol." What followed, was "real psychedelic proper rock star, banished from America, come pull your life together stuff." The rapper also wants to expand his artistic brand to clothing, art, and film: he premiered a short clip from his debut movie, Runaway, about his romance with a phoenix who falls from space.

West hasn't given up rapping though. His new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is set to drop November 22. –AMY LEE

Watch Kanye West on Ellen below: