Kanye West’s “New Body” Now Features Ice Spice, But He Claims Her Team Won’t Clear It
Kanye West‘s “New Body,” which originally featured Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj, seems like it is on the path to joining the same category as Dr. Dre’s Detox and J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar’s collaborative mixtape: mythical releases that never officially see the light of day. Ye recently revealed that he planned to update the record with an Ice Spice verse, but her team is not clearing the song to come out.
This revelation was sparked by YesJulz, who was fired by Yeezy last week, sharing more screenshots from her conversations with the Chicago producer. One message revealed that they not only sent “New Body” to the “Deli” rapper, but also Doja Cat. They planned to see who sounded the best on the song.
West took to Instagram Story on Tuesday (March 19), writing, “ICE SPICE SENT A VERSE IN FOR NEW BODY NOW HER TEAM IS SAYING WE CAN’T USE IT.”
This is imaginably a frustrating process for Kanye West; he attempted to finally release the song on his latest album Vultures 1 but Nicki Minaj did not permit its clearance. “Now, regarding Kanye, that train has left the station, okay?” she said in an Instagram Live back in December 2023. “No disrespect in any way. I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that’s been out for three years? Come on, guys.”
“New Body” was originally planned to be part of his 2019 album Yandhi, which never came out. While leaks and unofficial versions have circulated the internet for years, fans have always wanted an official CDQ iteration of the song. It looks like they will have to continue waiting.
YesJulz revealing the potential “New Body” features is the latest act in her online exposure of Yeezy ever since being fired last week. West announced her being relieved of her duties on Instagram Story, writing, “We have decided to no longer have YesJulz involved in the rollout of Vultures. All the activity on her page and with our fans in the past few days has been unauthorized.”
She received follow-up emails from Yeezy chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos claiming that she owed the company $7.7m. “While you were a contractor, I suspended enforcement of this debt,” he wrote. “It now falls due. Hassan from the compliance team will reach out with information about payment. Please note that any further violations will accrue more fines. Because you are being terminated for cause but also because you forgot to sign your contract your termination is effective immediately.”
As if that wasn’t clear, he sent another email saying, “Obviously, you are fired.” This prompted YesJulz to share screenshots of her text conversation with him where he called Kanye’s fanbase “Down syndrome megafans” with “developmental disorders.” She even urged them to take legal action against her, writing, “F**k an NDA. Sue me.”