Ye posted a morbid new poem about his mortality on Tuesday (March 8) entitled “Dead,” in which the rapper formerly known as Kanye West mused about what sounds like a passing of his soul while adamantly stating that he does not wish to offer any further insight into its meaning.
“I feel already compromised that I have to justify my expression after over 20 years of art that I’ve contributed to the planet but I also see the need to make sure we as a species are allowed to still feel anything,” West wrote in a caption accompanying the poem.
“Men not allowed to cry celebrities not allowed to cry I will not explain this new piece for the explanation destroys the mystery and magic of true love and puts it in a box that can be counted Art is subjective Art only works when it is the artist absolute truth Someone’s truth can be another persons lie We don’t all have to feel the same because we are not the same.”
The latest soul-spill from Ye came just days after his former wife, Kim Kardashian, dropped her ex’s last name from her official Twitter and Instagram accounts after a judge declared her legally single. His previous poem, posted on Friday (March 4), entitled “Divorce,” likened the end of marriage to injury, “full-blown COVID,” walking on glass and being bullied in class.
“Dead” features similarly ominous couplets in which Ye describes being the last to know that he’s already (metaphorically) deceased. “No one wanted to tell me I was DEAD/ And only people that would talk to me were in my head/ No one wanted to tell me I was DEAD/ Only people who loved me would visit in their dreams instead,” he wrote. “They would come to my grave and sprinkle some bread/ So on my tombstone the birds would be fed/ I would give new requests but nothing was said/ Cause no one wanted to tell me that I was DEAD.”
The piece continues with suggestions that the rapper’s mental and emotional coffers have been raided, with him writing, “They ran through my account like the sign said free bread/ But no one wanted to tell me I was DEAD/ My kids would dance for me in a home I once led/ But kids see ghosts and didn’t know I was DEAD/ Every thing was wrong in the press that I read.”
The second half continued in a similar vein, with West lamenting that no one had informed him that he’d passed, even as he touched on the emotional numbness he’s feeling. “Funny it’s been a long time since I bled/ You think someone who prides being smart as me would have known that he’s DEAD,” it goes on. “So now every idea only exists in my head/ I guess that’s how people treat people who are DEAD/ I found out one day at the newsstand in purgatory, there was a front page article of my murderers story/ I was so surprised at what it said/ This info is for the living/ And surprise … You’re DEAD.”
Kardashian originally filed for divorce from West in February 2021; in December, she requested that her maiden name be restored, and that the court split the former couple’s divorce proceedings into two separate ones. The proposal would allow her to be legally single while the more complicated issues in the split — custody of the pair’s four children and splitting their assets — take time to play out in court.
The “Dead” poem follows on the heels of news that West’s latest album, Donda 2, fails to meet Billboard‘s chart eligibility requirements following its release only via the rapper’s $200 Stem player. He also released a statement on Sunday (March 6) defending the claymation video for “Eazy,” in which he kidnaps and buries alive an animated figure that bears a striking resemblance to Kardashian’s boyfriend, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson.
Read the full “Dead” poem below.