Kanye West has been known informally as "Ye," but the rapper wants to make it official: according to The Guardian (opens in new tab), he is discontinuing "Kanye Omari West" for "personal reasons" and changing to the more concise "Ye." He filed a legal petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court to do so. For the name change to actually take place, a judge must approve the application.

In a famous tweet posted in 2018 (opens in new tab), West wrote "the being formally known as Kanye West I am YE." This was a few months after the release of her album YE, which received skeptical reviews (open in new tab) to say the least.

The musician explained the meaning of his chosen name in a radio interview that year (via Billboard (opens in new tab))." I think 'thou' is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means 'you.' "So I am you, we are us, and we are you. We went from Kanye, which means the one and only, to just Ye - it's a reflection of all of us, the good, the bad, the confused, everything. This album is a reflection of who we are."

West is currently promoting his latest album, "Donda," which will be released on August 27 (open in new tab). In one song from the album (opens in new tab) heard at a recent listening party, the rapper claims that ex-wife Kim Kardashian is "still in love with him." Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February (opens in new tab); the two have four children together: north, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm.