Rich The Kid shocked fans this week when he shared a text of Kanye West announcing his retirement from music – but it may not actually be true.
In a since-deleted screenshot to Rich’s Instagram Story on Tuesday (July 9), Ye wrote, “I am retiring from professional music. Not sure what else to do.”
Rich goes on to try to convince him to stay, writing: “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 & V[ultures]2 and we do it all over again the kids need you big bra fasho maybe some time to chill but retiring ain’t it.”
He soon deleted it, however, then headed to X to promote his new album Life’s A Gamble – which both Ye and Ty Dolla $ign are the executive producers of.
“ACTUALLY WE DROPPING FRIDAY 7/19,” he wrote with laughing emojis in response to a post from XXL that shared Ye’s retirement text. He added the album’s tracklist in his reply, which includes features from Peso Pluma, Offset, Rob49, French Montana, Chief Keef, BIA, the late TakeOff and Quavo – as well as Ye and Ty.
“Carnival” from Ye and Ty’s VULTURES album is also included.
Kanye says he’s “retiring from professional music” in text message with Rich The Kid pic.twitter.com/3Cb2ILAqCK
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) July 9, 2024
ACTUALLY WE DROPPING FRIDAY 7/19 https://t.co/OhbZHLXeYd pic.twitter.com/RjFzpGvhQ6
— Rich The Kid (@richthekid) July 9, 2024
Rich The Kid announced Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign as his new album’s EPs back in March as he celebrated going No. 1 alongside the pair for the VULTURES cut “Carnival,” which also features Playboi Carti.
“# 1 on billboard with family @ye @tydollasign & @playboicarti,” he wrote with a screenshot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Thank you to all the fans, my family that always support love! #V2 & My [new] album exec prod. by Ye & Ty$ OTW”
He first announced Life’s A Gamble back in January with an unspecified release date of Spring 2024.
At the time, Kanye was reported to be a featured guest, as well as Offset, Travis Barker and Rob49.
The LP will be Rich’s first album in four years. His last effort, Boss Man, dropped in March 2020. Lil Baby, DaBaby, Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, Lil Tjay, NBA YoungBoy, Quavo and more made appearances, but the project failed to make a big splash and soon dropped off the charts following a No. 24 debut on the Billboard 200.
