Kanye West claims he took part in incestuous acts with cousin as child

22 April, 2025

Kanye West

Kanye West has claimed that he took part in incestuous acts with his male cousin as a child.

The rapper – who now goes by Ye – told fans on X/Twitter yesterday (April 21), while unveiling a new song called ‘Cousins’. While sharing the clip, he wrote in the caption that it was about his own relative who is incarcerated for the murder of a pregnant woman.

According to the update he shared, the two engaged in incestuous behaviour as children, and West claims to blame himself for suggesting that they looked at “dirty magazines” together when he was just six years old.

“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,” Ye wrote.

“Perhaps in my self-centered mess I felt it was my fault that I showed him those dirty magazines when he was six, and then we acted out what we saw,” he added.

“My dad had Playboy magazines but the magazines I found in the top of my mom’s closet were different. My name is Ye and I sucked my cousin’s dick till I was 14.”

Kanye West attends the 67th GRAMMY Awards
Kanye West attends the 67th GRAMMY Awards. CREDIT: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

In the song, West is heard repeating the lines “I gave my cousin head” and “I told my cousin not to tell nobody”. He also says: “The truth will set you free someday, I don’t think they understand that I’m not attracted to a man.”

The music video features a bizarre assortment of clips and gifs, including nudity and Nazi imagery. The lyrics also seem to reference his recent separation from Bianca Censori, as he says: “I told you, don’t leave me/ I need you by my side/’That one time you left me, I didn’t get no sleep that night/ If you don’t leave me, I’ll probably be alright.”

In response to the initial tweet, fellow rapper Ferg reached out to Ye on X and said: “Good for @kanyewest now you can be whole. When people start to act out you never know the root of the issue ! Sending love brother [you’re] a goat.” West then re-shared this with a black heart emoji.

While little is known about West’s cousin, outlets including the Daily Mail have highlighted how there was reference to him in a documentary made by Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. There, the reality star told the director of Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative how her then-partner’s cousin “has a double life sentence for a murder that he committed when he was 17”.

The outlet also shared that Ye has seemingly only ever mentioned his cousin publicly back in 2018, during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel.

During the conversation, which was predominantly about Donald Trump, the rapper said: “My cousin is locked up for murder and I love him. So he did a bad thing, but I still love him.”

In other tweets, West seems to have insinuated that it is the traumatic incidents from his childhood that are behind his controversial behaviour – which has included incidents of a sexual nature in public, declaring to be a Nazi numerous times, insulting Jay-Z and Beyonce’s children and much more.

“Why are you all watching and letting Kim take my kids from me in real time?” he wrote. “Yall wanna say I’m acting out cause of things in my childhood. But I don’t get to be a dad.”

“You guys can make a difference. I’m fucking shaking typing this.  I’ve had my rights stripped because I wore a fucking red hat. That’s when I had a breakdown and was put in the hospital,” he added. In another tweet he claimed that he hasn’t seen his nine-year-old son at all “this year”.

Saint is one of the four children West and Kardashian share, alongside North (11), Chicago (seven) and Psalm (five).

As well as sharing the update about his cousin, West has shared a photo of himself and Bianca Censori together – suggesting that the two of them are back together. News of their split came earlier this month, when West said in a new song that she had left him.

Dubbed ‘BIANCA’, the track is set to feature in the rapper’s forthcoming album ‘WW3’ and contains the lyrics: “My baby she ran away / But first she tried to get me committed / Not going to the hospital ’cause I am not sick I just do not get it.

“She’s having a panic attack and she is not liking the way that I tweeted / Until Bianca’s back I stay up all night I’m not going to sleep / I really don’t know where she’s at.”

Elsewhere on X, the rapper issued an apology to Jay-Z, seemingly relating to nasty comments about his and Beyoncé’s children.

For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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