Kanye West’s petition to legally change his name to Ye has been approved

Kanye West‘s petition to legally change his name to his nickname, Ye, has been approved in a Los Angeles court.

Back in August, the rapper and producer filed documents to change his full name – Kanye Omari West – to the mononym.

According to TMZ, West has now been granted his name change, which means he will be referred to simply as Ye moving forward, and he will no longer have a middle name.

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The ‘Jesus Walks’ rapper spoke of the planned change during a radio interview in 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.”

Back in 2019, West considered changing his name to ‘Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West’, but didn’t follow through with the idea.

Kanye West
Kanye West. CREDIT: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

West’s name change follows the arrival of his long-teased album, ‘DONDA’. In a three-star review, NME‘s Rhian Daly said of the album: “The rapper’s 10th album follows an odyssey of delays and bizarre not-quite-release parties, the result merely punctuated with moments of brilliance.”

Earlier this month, the rapper’s manager Bu Thiam confirmed the album would be released following the third listening event in Chicago on Thursday (August 26). The event will also be live-streamed on Apple Music.

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Earlier this month, West earned his first ever Diamond certification, with ‘Stronger’ surpassing the 10 million sales mark.

Released in 2007 from West’s third album ‘Graduation’, the track has reached the milestone 14 years later.






Meanwhile, it’s been announced that an “intimate” new documentary about West, titled jeen-yuhs, is coming to Netflix next year.

jeen-yus was directed by Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah and will capture two decades of the rapper’s life and career. It promises to showcase “both his formative days trying to break through and his life today as a global brand and artist”.