The rapper’s social media move comes on the heels of his latest Grammy nominations.
Ye is starting fresh. Followers of the artist formerly known as Kanye West were in for a surprise on Monday (Nov. 29) when the rapper’s Instagram was scrubbed clean of all photos.
Whether Ye had deleted or simply archived all of his posts was unclear, but the 9.5 million users who follow him were greeted with the message “No posts yet” on a stark white background to correspond with his blank, black profile photo.
Of course, Ye has always had a famously tempestuous relationship to social media – though it’s typically his Twitter account that gets deactivated and revived on a somewhat regular basis. In recent days, the “Praise God” rapper had used his Instagram Stories to continue his public plea to reconcile with estranged wife Kim Kardashian through a publicly broadcast Thanksgiving prayer. (“All I think about every day is how I get my family back together,” he said in the video.)
He also mourned the death of Virgil Abloh over the weekend by sharing a Sunday Service Choir performance of Adele’s latest No. 1 hit “Easy on Me” dedicated to the memory of his late friend.
Ye’s decision to wipe his social slate clean comes on the heels of his latest spate of Grammy nominations. While his long-gestating 2021 album DONDA was reportedly a late addition to the album of the year race alongside rival Taylor Swift’s Evermore, the rapper also received additional nods for best melodic rap performance (for “Hurricane” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby), best rap song (for “Jail” featuring Jay-Z), and best rap album. (He’s also listed as a songwriter on Lil Nas X’s fellow album of the year nominee MONTERO.)