Kanye 'Ye' West reveals plans to retire from professional music

Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, reportedly plans to retire from professional music. 

That's according to a text message shared by fellow rapper Rich The Kid, which revealed the 47-year-old's shocking plans. 

"I am retiring from professional music. Not sure what else to do," the 'Runway' hitmaker allegedly wrote. 

Rich The Kid, who worked with Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign on the hit song, 'Carnival', was taken aback by the message. 

"Retire? Why? How? The ppl NEED you," he wrote.

He told Kanye to take "some time to chill". 

"The kids need you big bra." 

ALSO READ: Kanye West samples Backstreet Boys song... without permission

Social media users were just as shocked as Rich The Kid by Kanye's text. 

"I never thought I would hear him use the word retirement in life," one X user commented. 

Another user replied: "Been missing Ye like crazy. Let the King take a mini-retirement & soon he’ll get bored & return to us in thee trenches of earth."

However, not everyone is convinced that Kanye will retire. 

"Hard to believe this, but I feel like he's capping," one person wrote. 

It seems they may be onto something because shortly after sharing a screenshot of Kanye's text message, Rich The Kid revealed the track list for his new album, 'Life's a Gamble'. 

The album, which drops on Friday, July 19, features Kanye. He appears on track 16, 'Plain Jane'. 

ALSO READ: Jennifer Lopez posts empowering breakup song amid Ben Affleck divorce rumours

Social media users are questioning whether Kanye is really retiring or if Rich The Kick used the text message as a way to create hype for his upcoming project. 

"Did we just [get] bamboozled?" one X user asked. A second person wrote: "So it was your album promo?"

Despite his last solo album being 2021's 'Donda', Kanye has released several music projects over the years, including 'Vultures 1' with Ty Dolla $ign in February 2024. 

He also plans to drop 'Vultures 2' and 'Vultures 3'. This year, he worked on music with his daughter, North West. She featured on Kanye and Ty's song, 'Talking/Once Again'.

North's verse, which TikTok users nicknamed 'Miss Westie', became a viral sound clip on social media. 

"I love it here /We gonna take over the year for another year / It's your bestie, Miss, Miss Westie / Don't tryna test me/ It's gonna get messy," she raps.

The song featured in the Billboard Hot 100, earning North her first-ever hit on the chart at the tender age of 10.

North, whose mother is reality star Kim Kardashian, is working on her debut album. She revealed in March that the album will be called, 'Elementary School Dropout', which pays homage to Kanye's debut studio album, 'College Dropout'. 

With two albums on the way, and his daughter working on her solo debut, we doubt Kanye will retire anytime soon! 

ALSO READ: Halle Berry set to star with Kim Kardashian in new Hulu legal series

HOW TO LISTEN TO EAST COAST RADIO

1.     Listen to East Coast Radio on the FM (frequency modulation) spectrum between 94 and 95 FM on your radio.

2.     Listen live to ECR by clicking here or download the ECR App (iOS/Android).

3.     Listen to East Coast Radio on the DStv audio bouquet, channel 836. 

4.     Switch to the audio bouquet on your Openview decoder and browse to channel 606

5.     Listen to us on Amazon Alexa. 

Main image credit: YouTube /Kanye West ('Talking/Once Again' music video)