Kanye West Demands Music Industry Stop Using His 'Slave Name' And Refer To Him As 'Ye'

Controversial rapper and Yeezy founder Kanye West, who now goes by "Ye," has sent out a letter to his music industry colleagues demanding that they take his name change seriously.

West's letter to the music industry comes almost a month after he threatened to close down his Instagram account if the platform refused to change his handle to "Ye."

On Saturday, West's chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, sent out a letter demanding that the rapper's name, "Ye," be respected by the music industry, streamers and publishers.

Yiannopoulos noted that the rapper's decision to drop the name "Kanye West" did not come easy and that he wants to enforce the change across all platforms.

"Ye is one of the most recognizable people in the world, on par with presidents and popes. He didn't take the decision to change his name, potentially sacrificing some of the immense value captured by the brand 'Kanye West,' lightly," the letter began, per TMZ. "The change was made fully, legally, and permanently. This is who he is now. His name is Ye. We are reaching out to streaming platforms, publishers, stores, unions, lyrics websites and data resellers. This change will happen everywhere."

It continued, "Your platform has been identified as one of the most visible places this change may occur, and we passionately hope you will be able to fully and properly reflect the new name and identity of such an enormously influential and historic figure."

In the lengthy and impassioned letter, the rapper's chief of staff, Yiannopoulos, stated that West has a right to "full self-determination" and added that the Yeezy founder has referred to his former name as his "slave name" on multiple occasions.

The letter read, "He has on several occasions referred to it as his slave name. Ye is a black man in American who wants the right to full self-determination just like everyone else."

"My colleagues and I are reaching out at his urging and hope you can assist in this effort by bringing any and all instances of his name into line on your services," the letter concluded.

The "All of the Lights" rapper announced in 2021 that he wants to be known as simply "Ye," claiming at the time that it is "the most commonly used word in the Bible. And in the Bible, it means, 'You.' I'm all of you."

Since then, he has taken legal steps to enforce this change.

The letter from West's camp comes almost a month after the rapper took to his Instagram page, stating that he would shut it down if the platform refused to change his handle from "@kanyewest" to "@ye."

At the time, the 47-year-old shared a post of a chat between him and musician Justin LaBoy, which read: "I'm closing my Kanye West Instagram account. My name is Ye. No brand or numbers gonna force me to call myself what they want me to still be."

According to HipHopDx, the rapper initially captioned the post with a longer text: "Somebody has Ye as an account. I would like to have my name so I can change my account to my legal name. Nobody finna bully nothing Not no promoters Not no DSPs I don't care. My name is Ye now. You call me Kanye West then you calling me out of my name."

In a second post in February, the rapper shared another chat with his followers in which LaBoy assured him that Instagram was working on changing his official handle's name.

It read, "Instagram has approved[…]They just got into the office and called immediately." LaBoy added, "Waiting on info they need to make it happen today."

Less than 24 hours after, the name change was official.

The rapper also acknowledged the change, as he reshared a post on his Instagram Stories with the caption: "Four. Three. Two. One. Who Am I? Ye. That's Ye Ye."

While the rapper has been able to ensure his name change on Instagram, he still has X (formerly Twitter) to deal with.

According to a recent report, the "Love Lockdown" rapper was summoned to Australia by his wife, Bianca Censori's father, Leo, who has allegedly been concerned about his daughter's dressing since she married West.

"Kanye has been invited to go to Australia and Bianca is hesitant to allow this to happen because she knows how her father will react," a source told the Daily Mail.

The source added, "Her dad still plans to have a sit down with Kanye, and Leo will not be intimidated by Kanye's power or control. No one is expecting this to be all rainbows and family portraits."

Censori's mother, Alexandra, also recently flew to the U.S. in a bid to "save" her daughter. However, sources close to the 29-year-old claim that she has assured her family members that she "knows what she is doing" and is not being controlled by her husband.