Kanye West Seemingly U-Turns On 'Retirement' As He Readies New Collaborations

Kanye West‘s decision to retire from music has sparked confusion as he is set to release new music this week, despite his announcement.

Rich The Kid originally shared a text message from Ye on Tuesday (July 9) in which the Chicago rap legend said he is “retiring from professional music” and is “not sure what else to do.”

Shortly afterwards, however, the “New Freezer” rapper appeared to reveal that it was merely a ploy to promote his new album Life’s a Gamble by sharing the tracklist and updated release date for the project, which will now arrive on Friday (July 12).

“ACTUALLY WE DROPPING FRIDAY [crying face emojis] 7/19,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in response to his original post, which has since been deleted.

West features on two songs on the album: “Gimme a Second 2” alongside Ty Dolla $ign and Peso Pluma, and “Carnival,” which is lifted from his and Ty’s Vultures 1 LP. Ye and Ty have also been tapped to executive produce the project.

Just days earlier, Rich announced that he was delaying the release of Life’s a Gamble and did not know when it would drop.

ACTUALLY WE DROPPING FRIDAY 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 7/19 https://t.co/OhbZHLXeYdpic.twitter.com/RjFzpGvhQ6

— Rich The Kid (@richthekid) July 9, 2024

In addition to his contributions to Rich The Kid’s album, Kanye West also has a new song with Consequence dropping this Friday.

Cons, a longtime Kanye collaborator and one of the earliest artists on G.O.O.D. Music, wrote on social media on Tuesday: “‘No Apologies’. Featuring YE. THE WAIT IS OVER. WE DID WHAT DID TO GET PAID. 07.12.24.”

The track is expected to appear on the Queens, New York rapper’s upcoming album Nice Doing Business With You, which will also contain the Ye-produced “Blood Stain” that fans first heard in 2022.

Further casting doubt on the retirement talk, Kanye has a new album of his own on the way with Vultures 2, his second of three planned collaborations with Ty Dolla $ign.

The project has been plagued by delays after missing its scheduled release dates of March 8 and May 3, with no concrete arrival in sight.

In a recent interview with Billboard, however, Ty insisted that the album is still on the horizon.

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“We got all the songs. Basically, it’s just like, ‘How can we get it there? How can we go bigger than the first album?,’” he said.

He added: “Certain people will probably expect you to just do the same exact sound. But that sound’s already out.”

The hold-up appears to be partly due to the album’s distribution strategy. In March, Kanye revealed that he was contemplating selling Vultures 2 directly to fans, rather than releasing it on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

It was revealed in a recent lawsuit against Ye and his Yeezy company that the 47-year-old was developing his own app called YZYVSN, designed to host Vultures 2.

Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign recently announced a “Vultures listening experience” in Korea next month, although it remains unclear whether a new album will be tied to the performance.