The artist formerly known as Kanye West will now be known as simply Ye.
A Los Angeles judge formally granted the rapper permission to change his name, a communications officer at the Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed on Tuesday.
The rapper, 44, has already used Ye (pronounced “Yay”) as a nickname and as the title of his 2018 album. He filed the name change request in August, citing “personal reasons”.
Shortly after the album was released, he tweeted: “The being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE.”
Though his Twitter account now carries the name Ye, his website and Instagram were still displaying his former name on Tuesday morning.
the being formally known as Kanye West
— ye (@kanyewest) September 29, 2018
I am YE
The rapper has previously spoken about how the name has religious significance for him.
In a 2018 interview with radio host Big Boy, he said: “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible it means you. So it’s I’m you, I’m us, it’s us.
“It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, our everything.”
West released his long awaited album Donda in August after months of delays. It is named after his late mother, whose death had a devastating impact on the music star.
West had said the record would arrive in July, then spent time living at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, where he had held a listening party, while working on completing the record.
Meanwhile, West is currently embroiled in divorce proceedings with wife Kim Kardashian, whom he married in 2014.
They share four children: five-year-old Saint, seven-year-old North, three-year-old Chicago, and two-year-old Psalm.
