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Kanye West Changes His Name to Ye Ahead of ‘Yandhi’ Album Release, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Performance

Kanye West, YE
Kanye West visits Jimmy Kimmel for 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on August 9, 2018.Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images

Kanye West announced on Saturday, September 29, that he’d changed his name to Ye ahead of his new album release and performance on Saturday Night Live.

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“The being formally known as Kanye West. I am YE,” the 41-year-old tweeted on Saturday as he changed his Twitter handle to Ye as well.

It’s one of the nicknames the rapper has gone by — his other monikers include Yeezy and Yeezus — and is the name he gave to his last studio album, which was released in June and became his eighth no. 1 on the Billboard 200.

West announced earlier in September that he was set to release his ninth studio album, Yandhi, at the end of this month.

Related: Stars’ Funniest SNL Moments

He is set to perform on the season premiere of SNL on Saturday and the album is expected to drop at some time during the episode. TMZ reported on Friday, September 28, that Lil Pump, Kid Cudi, Teyana Taylor and 070 Shake are expected to join him on stage for his performances.

The Fader reported on Friday that Yandi includes appearances from Ty Dolla $Sign as well as 6ix9ine and the late rapper XXXtentacion. West, who appeared at the Fader offices wearing a red Make America Great Again cap and a white Colin Kaepernick sweatshirt, also told the website that he had sent one song to Rihanna for her to record her vocals.

Related: The Best ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketches of 2017

West is replacing Ariana Grande on SNL on Saturday after the show’s executive producer, Lorne Michaels, revealed that she’d dropped out of performing on the season 44 opener for “emotional reasons” following the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller.

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