Kanye West has always dominated headlines with outlandish statements and through his social media channels. Whether it’s disrespecting Jay-Z’s children or sharing antisemitic views, Ye knows how to ruffle some feathers. The number of times he apologises or retracts his views suggests it could all be for publicity. Either that, or he can’t filter the thoughts running through him.
However, some of the Chicago rapper’s most recent comments have been highly personal, seeing him tackle childhood trauma head-on. Kanye took to X (formerly Twitter) to admit that he had a sexual relationship with his cousin when they were kids. He made the shocking revelation while sharing a new song called ‘Cousins’.
“This song is called COUSINS about my cousin that’s locked in jail for life for killing a pregnant lady a few years after I told him we wouldn’t ‘look at dirty magazines together’ anymore,” he wrote on his restricted account. “Perhaps in my self centered mess I felt it was my fault that I showed him those dirty magazines when he was 6 and then we acted out what we saw.”
Ye revealed that the incestuous acts started after finding porn magazines that belonged to his mother. “My dad had playboy magazines but the magazines I found in the top of my moms closet were different,” he said. “My name is Ye and I sucked my cousin’s dick till I was 14. Tweet sent.”
In the song itself, Kanye West details kissing his cousin and performing fellatio on him. He sings in the first verse, “Hanging with my cousin, reading dirty magazines/ We seen some n*ggas kissin’, we ain’t know what that shit mean/ Then we start re-enacting everything that we had seen/ That’s when I gave my cousin head, gave my cousin head/ Gave my cousin head, I gave my cousin head/ I gave my cousin head.”
During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2018, Kanye opened up about his cousin serving a life sentence for murder. “My cousin is locked up for murder and I love him,” he said. “So he did a bad thing, but I still love him.”
His ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, also addressed his cousin during an episode of her 2020 docuseries, Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project. “Kanye’s aunt, my husband’s aunt, his cousin has a double life sentence for a murder that he committed when he was 17. She’s like, ‘I’m not even that distraught anymore. Like, that’s just what happens to the kids in our neighbourhood.’ There’s just no other choice.”
Another time, Kanye West spoke about his cousin on ‘Family Business’ from his 2004 debut album, The College Dropout. In it, he raps, “This is family business/ And this is for the family that can’t be with us/ And this is for my cousin locked down, know the answer’s in us/ This why I spit it in my songs so sweet, like a photo of your granny’s picture.”
Later in the song, he says, “You don’t wanna stay there ’cause them your worst cousins/ Got roaches at they crib like them your first cousins/ Act like you ain’t took a bath with your cousin.”
