Kanye West Announces 'Retirement' From Professional Music, Internet Says: "We Retired You"

Kanye West, who is credited with 24 Grammy wins and at least 10 No. 1 albums shocked fans and the music industry by revealing his plans of retiring. Rapper Rich The Kid, who worked with Ye on the hit track Carnival off the Vultures album, apparently revealed that West admitted to leaving the music business early in a chat. Kid posted a screenshot of their exchange on Instagram stories. “I am retiring from professional music. Not sure what else to do,” the Donda rapper allegedly wrote. To which Kid responded,“Retire? Why ? How ? The ppl Need you the music you & Ty & we have made was the Biggest Stamp in culture to this date In 2024. 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.” 

According to Billboard, after publishing the Instagram story, the New Freezer rapper took it down approximately thirty minutes later, creating added speculations. Fans' opinions on West's retirement intentions have been split ever since the screenshot went viral with most of them expressing 'We Won'. A fan stated on X: "Kanye West has had a massive impact on the music industry, so his retirement would mark the end of an era."

Another fan seemed excited: "We All Won Together." A critic said: "Vultures was a testament of the fact he doesn't know where to go creatively anymore, and he kept depending on other rapper's. And now we know it wasn't for clout."

Another fan celebrated: "We won." An X user stated: "As much as I would say we won, he was truly a gifted musician despite his mental issues." Another fan wrote with disappointment: "This isn't real but if so that is a huge fail to music and creativity. He is a genius and one of the best ever!" A fan tried to predict: "Nah it’s probably just one of his lows. He’s gonna drop an album as soon as he’s manic." While others rejoiced: "Dude, your last several albums flopped. You aren't retiring. We retired you." 

However, West has an interesting line-up of collaborations coming up, soon after posting the controversial message, Kid revealed that the Bound 2 rapper would be appearing on Gimme a Second 2 and Plain Jane from his upcoming album, Life's A Gamble, which is set to release on Friday, July 19. The project also features Ye and Ty Dolla $ign as executive producers. With a slew of sobbing and laughing emojis, Kid wrote, "Actually We Dropping Friday 7/19."

According to TMZ, additionally, Ty Dolla $ign and Ye just stated that they would be traveling to South Korea to stream the Vultures 2 album. Meanwhile, Dexter Raymond Mills Jr., better known as rapper Consequence told the publication that he fully supports Ye' retirement plans, "His contribution to hip hop history is unmatched and from "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" to Beyoncé's "Party," they have crates of classic collabs that'll last forever," he stated.