In 2021, a Los Angeles judge signed off on the controversial hitmaker’s name change – making “Ye” his legal name and doing away with his previous full name, Kanye Omari West.

West had stated in court documents back in August 2021 that he was changing his name due to “personal reasons.”

After the release of his 2018 eponymous album, Ye, the 46-year-old shared his new name on X, describing himself as “the being formally known as Kanye West.” The father of four went on to add: “I am YE.”

Kanye West has called for the music industry to start referring to the rapper as “Ye” and not by his so-called slave name. Credit: Marc Piasecki/GC Images/Getty

In an interview with Big Boy in June 2018, the Yeezy founder explained to the radio host that “ye” was the most common word in the Bible.

“In the Bible, it means ‘you,’” he said. “So I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye. Just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything. The album is more of a reflection of who we are.”

Now, in a letter obtained by Page Six and penned by West’s chief of staff, Milo Yiannopoulos, the music industry was called on to respect West’s wishes and stop referring to the rapper by his “slave name”.

The alt-right political commentator stated in the letter: “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 of ‘Kanye West,’ lightly. The change was made fully, legally, and permanently. This is who he is now. His name is Ye.”

Yiannopoulos, 39, added that he is calling for “streaming platforms, publishers, stores, unions, lyrics websites and data resellers” to change how they refer to West as they are some of “the most visible places.”

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

Yiannopoulos – former editor of far-right news website Breitbart News – is a vocal critic of a wide range of topics including feminism, Islam, social justice and woke-ness.

In any case, West certainly isn’t the first artist to change his name, with previous examples including Prince, Snoop Dogg and Sean Love Combs, who have all changed their names, some several times.