Kanye West has claimed that his name is a “slave name” and demanded to be called ‘Ye’ from now on.
Back in 2021, West’s petition to legally change his name to his mononym Ye was approved in a Los Angeles court.
Since then, the US rapper’s names in the press and public have often been used interchangeably.
But West’s chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, has since demanded that the rapper be referred to as Ye in an open letter obtained by Page Six. “Ye is one of the most recognizable people in the world, on par with presidents and popes,” the letter read.
“He didn’t take the decision to change his name, potentially sacrificing some of the immense value captured by the brand of ‘Kanye West,’ lightly. The change was made fully, legally, and permanently. This is who he is now. His name is Ye.”
Yiannopoulos said he was reaching out to “streaming platforms, publishers, stores, unions, lyrics websites and data resellers” to enforce the change because they are some of “the most visible places”.
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The letter also describes the ‘Donda‘ rapper as an “enormously influential and historic figure”.
“He has on several occasions referred to it as his slave name,” the letter went on. “Ye is a black man in America who wants the right to full self-determination just like everyone else.”
The rapper previously spoke of the planned name change during a radio interview with BigBoyTV 2018, explaining: “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means you. So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us.”
West went on to say that his name “went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye – just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything.”
The artist also previously considered changing his name to ‘Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West’.