Kanye West is pulling a Diddy by changing his name.
On Tuesday, Aug. 24, the music mogul filed paperwork in Los Angeles to have his birth name, Kanye Omari West, changed to his nickname, Ye. It’s listed that the 44-year-old is changing his name for “personal reasons,” which may be all the reason he needs. TMZ reported that “in California, unless there’s evidence a name change is designed to commit fraud or other shenanigans … the judge will approve it.”
Leaving little to no explanation, it’s hard to tell why West would want to change his name and completely drop his last name, which not only he carries but his four children, North, Psalm, Chicago, and Saint, carry as well.
West explained why he believes the word “Ye” has such a huge significance in an interview with Big Boy in 2018 shortly after dropping the eponymous album. “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible, it means ‘you,’ ” he said. “So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye, just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”
The album came months after he drew major controversy for his interview with TMZ where he said that “slavery was a choice.” In true Kanye rant fashion, West was seen speaking to the employees of TMZ and he said, “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like a choice. You were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally imprisoned.”
Fans reacted to the news of West changing his name with mixed responses. One fan cleverly wrote, “Kan ye drop donda then” referring to his highly anticipated album “Donda.” That album is named after his late mother, Donda West, and is set to be released on Aug. 29.
Another fan said, “This is the most Ye thing Ye has Ye’d in a long Ye,” but a person who clearly wasn’t in favor of the name change wrote, “nah bro this kinda annoying.”
