Kanye West Updates Lyrics To ‘Ye’ Song To Mention Slavery

Less than a week after the release of his eighth studio album, ye, Kanye West has apparently reworked the lead track on the project to now mention slavery, in reference to the controversial remarks he made to TMZ last month.

“I Thought About Killing You,” the lead track on ye, was edited to now include a line that states, “If I wasn’t shining so hard, wouldn’t be no shade/ Buckwheat-a** n****, it’s gon’ be otay/ Sorry, but I chose not to be no slave.”

The last few words there reference the rapper’s controversial TMZ interview in which he suggested that slavery was a choice.

The exact comment West made to the TMZ staff was, “When you hear about slavery for 400 years—for 400 years?! That sounds like a choice. Like, you was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all? It’s like we’re mentally in prison.”

As of right now, “I Thought About Killing You” in its modified form is only available to be heard on the censored version of the song available on major streaming services.

Genius reported as well that Kim Kardashian West allegedly made a request of her husband to remove a lyric from ye on the car ride to the album listening event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last week.

Being that West just added the lyrics to the song only on one specific copy could lead to a fair assumption that the rapper’s wife was speaking about “I Thought About Killing You,” as the lyric’s absence on the original version of the track seems to have a few seconds of dead air where the line was originally supposed to be.

However, West is not new to altering his albums post-release, actually pioneering the concept of an artist making major changes to a body of work when he altered his last album, The Life of Pablo, considerably for months after dropping it.

When questioned on why he chose to modify the project after its release, West described The Life of Pablo as “a living breathing changing creative expression.”

Despite major media controversy over the past few months for his various comments on slavery, government, and mental health, it has so far not inhibited the widespread reach of West’s latest body of work, with ye accumulated 100 million streams in its first three days and well on track to earn him the eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 of his career.

A busy man recently, ye is the second of five albums West plans to produce and release on his G.O.O.D. Music label this summer, each one clocking in at seven songs. He has already co-produced and featured on label mate Pusha T’s Daytona project, as well as having released his collaborative album with Kid Cudi entitled Kids See Ghosts last night in Los Angeles. The remaining two projects, Teyana Taylor and Nas’ albums, will be released later in the month.