Kanye West Retiring From ‘Professional Music’ According To Rich The Kid Texts

The only predictable thing about Kanye West is that he will do something unpredictable. That reality proved true this week when the 47-year-old rapper revealed to Rich The Kid that he is retiring from “professional music.”

The “New Freezer” artist shared text messages with Ye via his Instagram story on Tuesday (July 9) where the Chicago producer wrote, “I am retiring from professional music Not sure what else to do.” The conversation took place within a group chat as his name appeared above the message, which otherwise would not have happened if it was just a one-on-one conversation; it is unclear who else was in the group chat with them.

Rich pleaded with his “Carnival” collaborator, writing “Retire? Why? How? The ppl NEED you the music you & Ty & we have made the BIGGEST STAMP in culture to this date.” In his second message, he added “In 2024.” In his last message, he urged the 24-time Grammy winner to release more music he has in the tuck. “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,” he wrote. Notably, he deleted the entire text thread from his story soon after posting it.

What makes Kanye West and Rich The Kid’s retirement conversation even more interesting is that the latter promoted his forthcoming album after sharing and deleting the post. His LP, Life’s A Gamble, is out next Friday (July 19) and will feature Ye twice on “Gimme A Second 2” and “Plain Jane.” The album also features Offset, Quavo, Takeoff, Rob49, Peso Pluma, French Montana, BIA, and Chief Keef, and West is listed as an executive producer alongside his Vultures collaborator, Ty Dolla $ign.

It is unclear whether the “Good Life” artist was serious about retiring or changed his mind and told Rich to delete the post. It is possible that this could be marketing for his elusive follow-up to February’s Vultures or another project. However, if Ye were to call it quits at this point of his career, it would be a victorious ride into the sunset musically. Vultures went No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, despite being removed from streaming platforms multiple times and him releasing the project independently.

Outside of music, this possible decision to step away could be a result of legal cases the controversial figure could be facing. Last month, his former assistant Lauren Pisciotta sued him for sexual assault. She claimed that the Donda artist sent her explicit text messages, including footage of him having sex with models, and locked her in a hotel room with him before masturbating in front of her, among other obscene acts.

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