Kanye West’s fans and critics alike have not held back on their thoughts amid reports that the rapper is planning to retire from music.
Opinions began to fly online after fellow rapper Rich The Kid shared an alleged exchange between himself and West - who officially changed his name to “Ye” in 2021 - discussing his career plans.
The text from a person believed to be West read: “I'm retiring from professional music. Not sure what else to do.”
Rich The Kid - real name Dimitri Leslie Roger - then tried to convince the father-of-four to reconsider, highlighting the recent success of his Vultures 1 album with rapper Ty Dolla Sign as a reason to keep going.
“Retire? Why? How? The [people] NEED you the music you & Ty & we have made was the BIGGEST STAMP in culture to this date In 2024,” he urged.
Ye said he’s retiring from making music but he don’t know what else to do pic.twitter.com/Sd3aM52dTl
— Donda Times (@dondatimes) July 9, 2024
Referencing West’s already announced planned second and third follow ups to Vultures 1, he added: “Drop Ye about mine & V2 and we do it all over again. The kids need you big bra fasho maybe some time to chill buy retiring ain't it [SIC].”
Taking to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, some felt the Gold Digger hitmaker was right.
“Good, he’s washed and just ruining his legacy,” declared one person.
“Oh thank God,” and “Finally” agreed a second and third.
A fourth wrote: “At least he won’t ruin his discog any more.”
Others were more cynical and saw it as a promotional stunt, writing: “Kanye retiring and then releasing a new song is such a Kanye thing to do.”
“I don’t believe you,” concluded another.
