A Ye by any other name …
Kanye West has filed paperwork to shorten his legal name to his longtime nickname, “Ye,” according to legal documents obtained by Page Six.
West, 44, filed the docs in LA Tuesday; TMZ, who initially reported the news, note that “in California, unless there’s evidence a name change is designed to commit fraud or other shenanigans … the judge will approve it.”
The “Jesus Is King” rapper is changing his name for “personal reasons,” the documents state.
It’s an interesting move from West, given that one of his least-liked albums, the 23-minute June 2018 release recorded after his TMZ “slavery was a choice” interview, was titled simply “Ye.”
It’s also interesting that West is making his move to divorce himself from his surname during the runup to his forthcoming album, “Donda,” which is of course titled after his mother, whom he was close to.
West’s father Ray was an Atlanta photographer, who — according to a commonly-cited bit of background — was a former Black Panther and one of the first photojournalists at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In her book, “Raising Kanye,” Donda revealed that she married Ray three months after meeting him; the pair divorced when Kanye was 3 years old.
But if Kanye’s relationship with his dad is far from frosty: Ray was featured in a video for Kanye’s “Follow God” off 2019’s “Jesus Is King.”
Meanwhile, Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, still has his name attached to hers, months after filing for divorce from the “Closed on Sunday” rapper.
Either way, Kanye’s taking this a step further than when he told Yeezy head footwear designer Steven Smith that “I might legally change my name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West for a year” in November 2019.
“It will be on the license plate,” he added.