Kanye West is demanding that people stop using his ‘slave name’ and use his real name instead.
The ‘Flashing Lights’ rapper’s behaviour means he’s never far from the spotlight.
From his highly publicised split from Kim Kardashian to his viral fling with Julia Fox, to whatever is going on with his new ‘wife’ Bianca Censori, he certainly knows how to keep everyone talking.
And now, it’s West’s name that is generating conversation.
West’s odd request has generated quite a lot of feedback online.
One person writes: “That’s fine, I actually respect what people wish to be referred to as whether it be gender or name, that’s not a problem – but I still am not a fan of his antics.”
“I’m sad that people don’t understand what he’s talking about,” says another.
West’s chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, has demanded in a letter that the rapper be referred to by his real name.
The rapper is described as ‘one of the most recognisable people in the world, on par with presidents and popes’ in the letter obtained by Page Six.
It adds that the ‘Stronger’ rapper ‘didn’t take the decision to change his name’ lightly and is ‘potentially sacrificing some of the immense value captured’ by his name.
This isn’t the only time West’s name change has been brought up.
West’s petition to legally change his name to his mononym Ye was approved in a Los Angeles court in 2021, as reported by TMZ. He no longer has a middle name either.
The rapper’s name has since been used interchangeably by the media, but Yiannopoulos wants that to stop.
Yiannopoulos explains that he is 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’.
The rapper previously spoke of the name change during a radio interview with BigBoyTV, 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.”
The artist said 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’.
Following the release of West’s 2018 eponymous album, ‘Ye’, he teased his new name on X, formerly Twitter, writing that he was ‘the being formally known as Kanye West’.
He concluded: “I am YE.”
