Kanye West ‘RETIRING’ from ‘professional’ music, as per alleged texts

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After 10 studio albums and 24 Grammy wins, Kanye West is allegedly retiring from ‘professional music.’

News of the Flashing Lights hitmaker’s, 47, shock retirement plans were revealed in an alleged text message exchange with rapper Rich The Kid.

Rich The Kid, 31, uploaded a screenshot to his Instagram Story of messages he’d received from an iPhone contact under the name ‘Ye.’

The text from a person believed to be West — who legally changed his name from Kanye West to Ye in 2021 — read: ‘I’m retiring from professional music. Not sure what else to do’

Rich then tried to convince the father-of-four to reconsider his decision, even bringing up the recent success of his Vultures 1 album with rapper Ty Dolla $ign.

‘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 wrote.

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Rich was notably featured on West and Ty’s lead single Carnival, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart when it debuted in March.

The song also marked West’s first #1 hit in 13 years – his last being Katy Perry’s 2011 single E.T.

‘Drop Ye about mine & V2 and we do it all over again,’ Rich continued. ‘the kids need you big bra fasho maybe some time to chill buy retiring ain’t it.’

After news of Ye’s retirement gained traction online, Rich went on to delete the screenshot from his Instagram Story.

This sparked fan speculation that he may have made the post to stir up publicity for his upcoming album, Life’s A Gamble.

As just hours later, Rich returned to Instagram to reveal the release date as well as a peek at the track list that includes a new song with West.

West — who is rumored to have produced Life’s A Gamble with collaborator Ty Dolla $ign — will be featured on track 16, titled Plain Jane. Rich’s album also lists Carnival as the album’s closing track.

‘LIFES A GAMBLE 7/19’ Rich captioned the post, while also giving his nearly 12million followers a look at the album artwork. 

Fans took to the comment section to voice their frustration and confusion, with one writing: ‘Long story short y’all lied for promotion?’

Many wanted to know ‘why’ Rich had deleted the texts about ‘ye retiring.’

West released his first-ever rap EP Get Well Soon… in December 2002 through Jay-Z now-defunct record label Roc-A-Fella Records.

His released his critically-acclaimed debut album, College Dropout, less than two years later in February 2004.

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Since bursting onto the rap scene over 20 years ago, West has sold an incredible 160million records worldwide and is a 24-time Grammy Award winner.

He has two Diamond certified songs — 2007’s Stronger and 2011’s N***as in Paris featuring Jay-Z — and all 10 of his albums have been at least certified Gold.

His 10th studio album, Vultures 1, went straight to No.1 when it was released in February 2024.

It was done in collaboration with Ty Dolla Sign as their hip hop duo ¥$.

West previously teased that a follow-up album, Vultures 2, is in the works.

The chatter around West’s alleged musical retirement comes amid a slew of legal woes for the rapper – mostly relating to his crumbling Yeezy empire.

Just last week, a new bombshell lawsuit accused West and his new wife Bianca Censori, 29, of sending porn to staff members – including minors – at Yeezy.

A federal lawsuit filed in California claimed that Censori, 29, sent an employee a link to ‘hardcore’ sexual content after her husband announced the launch of his adult film business, Yeezy Porn, in late April.

It alleged that the videos were accessible to underage staffers, but did not name her as a defendant in the suit – simply using the story to illustrate the work environment at the YZYVSN streaming service app.

Censori has since denied the claims via West’s former chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, who told DailyMail.com he had permission to speak on her behalf.

‘I’ve been authorized by Bianca to stress that any allegation that she showed or caused to be shown any pornographic material to minors is offensive, disgusting, abhorrent and categorically and wholly false,’ the statement says.

The 39-year-old British commentator went on in his statement Monday to dismiss the allegations against him in the federal lawsuit, which accuses him and Ye of engaging in ‘forced labor and cruel inhuman, or degrading treatment.’

Yiannopoulos slammed the claims, saying it ‘takes more imaginative leaps than The Lord of the Rings,’ and claiming it was filed by a man who had no authority at YZYVSN.

‘The tragic, desperate, attention-seeking wannabee Yeezy staffer behind this egregious and repulsive pack of lies, Shemar DaCosta, has never had any kind of access to Ye, his family, or Yeezy, or any information pertinent to the company, and he never will,’ Yiannopoulos said.

‘DaCosta, known as ‘Hotep Susan’ in Yeezy circles for his histrionic and absurd race-baiting, faked an entire job history at Yeezy on his LinkedIn profile—the most tragic and thirsty lie imaginable.

‘He claimed to be a lead developer for Yeezy. He has never worked at Yeezy. Read my lips: He will never, ever, ever land a job at the company after telling such odious lies about the Lady of the House.

‘There’s a simple reason DaCosta’s clownish claim—that minors were shown Yeezy Porn—isn’t true and can’t be true. Yeezy Porn doesn’t exist.

‘I made sure of that by falling on my sword and quitting over it.

‘All I’ve done since is try to get these app developers paid, as voluminous correspondence demonstrates,’ he continued – defending himself from claims that developers went unpaid for their work.

‘Anyone asserting otherwise, including many in the press, are lazy or simply dishonest buffoons uncritically repeating mendacious lies from a lawsuit that takes more imaginative leaps than The Lord of the Rings.’

He went on to hit out at the claims that he segregated employees by race, and named Discord chat rooms ‘slaves’ and ‘new slaves.’

‘Secret white chat rooms? No, the other team just hustled harder than you did,’ the former Yeezy chief of staff said of DaCosta.

‘Hostile working environment? How can that be? You were never hired. Minors working illegally? Give me a break.

‘The only minors being taken advantage of are the poor suckers roped into this lawsuit, who have no idea what a pack of lies their names have been attached to,’ he claimed.

‘If anyone’s taking advantage of kids, it’s Shemar DaCosta and his bozo Instagram lawyer Ben Lockyer, whose area of legal expertise appears to be credulous African Americans with dubious causes of action,’ Yiannopoulos concluded.

‘Both of them should be ashamed of themselves. And if they’re not now, they soon will be.’

Yiannopoulos also included posts from X that he said backs his claims that the suit is frivolous.

Several wrote that Yiannopoulos is trying to get the app developers paid, with one man who identified himself as a ‘Yeezy developer waiting to get paid’ saying Yiannopoulos has been the only (ex)employee trying to get us paid by doing everything he can and more.’

‘This lawsuit has only made things far worse for everyone,’ the post said.

Another, who identifies himself as the lead developer for the app, agreed.

‘So then suing him [because you] didn’t get offered a job by them or make up other lies is crazy,’ he wrote.

The lawsuit alleges that West and Yiannopoulos hired an international developer group comprised of several black members, many of whom were underage, with some as young as 14.

They then fostered an allegedly racist working environment and repeatedly made false promises about payment and working hours.

It claims that Yiannopoulos promised the developer group $120,000 if they completed the app, agreed to the work conditions and didn’t complain.

But Ye then allegedly ordered all of the employees to sign NDAs and threatened to fire the minors if they didn’t.

The duo also allegedly required minors to sign ‘volunteer’ agreements.

From then on, Ye’s white managers reportedly used disparaging and racist language to create a hostile working environment.

They reportedly harassed team members on the basis of their age, race, gender, sexual orientation and national origin.

The workers were also reportedly forced to work through the night without pay or sleep.

If they did not agree with the long work hours without breaks, the plaintiffs were allegedly threatened with having their pay withheld.

But even after the team allegedly finished one of the apps on May 1 and sent it to Ye, the suit claims he did not pay them – leading them to file the suit asking for damages for unpaid wages and overtime pay, as well as emotional distress.

DailyMail.com has reached out to West for comment.