Kanye West says he’s “retiring from professional music” in text to Rich The Kid

Rich the Kid has shared a text allegedly from Kanye West, in which West declares he is walking away from music.

On Tuesday (July 9), the ‘New Freezer’ rapper posted a text exchange seemingly between him and Ye, with the ‘All Falls Down’ artist explaining he was unsure what to do but stop making music.

“I am retiring from professional music Not sure what else to do,” Ye apparently wrote in the message.

Rich The Kid replied and attempted to dissuade him, writing back: “Retire? Why? How? The ppl NEED you the music you & Ty & we have made the BIGGEST STAMP in culture to this date in 2024. Drop Ye about mine & V2 and we do it all over again the kids need you big bra fasho maybe some time to chill but retiring ain’t it.”

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

He deleted the screenshot of their text exchange from his Instagram story shortly after, by which point accounts on Twitter/X were already circulating it.

Fans are divided, with some taking it at face value and others assuming it’s a marketing tactic ahead of a possible new venture. Following up, Rich the Kid then took to X/Twitter to say: “ACTUALLY WE DROPPING FRIDAY 7/19,” announcing his upcoming album – which notably features Ye on ‘Plaine Jane’.

Ye has officially come out of retirement! https://t.co/zp0nIgKEgj

— Ye Streams (@kanyestreams1) July 9, 2024

so is kanye west retiring or not

— path “reacts” wei 瑋 (@telepathics) July 9, 2024

Ngl if he is retiring, ima say this and yall gon come at me crazy but standing on this, Kanye West has the greatest album discography in the history of hip hop no one can convince me otherwise. https://t.co/FU4dhUxpi1

— Flizz-E🇲🇼💫 (@Flizz_E44) July 9, 2024

ye not done, if he “retire”..it’ll be a Jay-z retirement where he’s in it, he’s around it, might do a surprise verse but just not putting out albums regularly.

kanye is too beloved, he’s needed still. artists & friends arent gonna let him “retire”. ye will always be around.

— JAYLIEN (@jaylienwesley) July 9, 2024

Back in 2020, West vowed to “free all artists by any means necessary” in an ongoing tirade against the music industry that saw him suggest new guidelines for recording and publishing deals and discuss contracts, masters and rights issues on Twitter.

At the time, the rapper was embroiled in a legal battle with publishing company EMI, and had settled their lawsuit for a second time.

The rapper first sued the company in January 2019, and alleged that the firm, which had published his music since 2003, was attempting to lock him into a lifetime of “servitude”.

It was reported in 2019 that his record contract stated that he could never retire. West and EMI went on to notify the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that they had reached an “agreement in principle” to finally settle the suit.

Meanwhile, West was recently sued in new lawsuit for allegedly calling employees “new slaves”.