Marketing genius? Kanye West reveals disturbing childhood experience with cousin, leaves Internet in shock

Kanye West has opened up about a disturbing childhood experience. According to the rapper, who has renamed himself Ye, his new song Cousins is inspired by his incestuous relationship with his relative.

In a post on Twitter (now X), Kanye shared that he had a sexual encounter with a male cousin as a child. He also revealed that this cousin had later gone to jail for life for killing a pregnant woman.

Kanye feels partly responsible because, when they were kids, he showed his cousin adult magazines. He believes this may have influenced their behaviour.

Kanye West added that his dad had Playboy magazines, but the ones he found hidden in his mother’s cupboard were different and more explicit.

The Twitter post comes with a shaky, low-resolution video. The social media post has now gone viral, with more than 10 million views.

Kanye West’s post has shocked many on social media.

“But ye your cousin was 9 years old when you were 14,” wrote one user.

Another one wrote, “...a lot of black men have this type of trauma they just don’t speak on it.”

Another user commented, “That’s pretty disgusting. We really didn’t need to know that.”

“You need to understand how Kanye works, and his marketing genius. I'm not discounting the trauma of this but he uses shock to drive his marketing campaigns,” came from another.

Early exposure to pornography

According to a 2016 study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, early exposure to pornography can increase risky sexual behaviours in youth.

In 2016, Peter and Valkenburg found that such exposure had links to more liberal sexual attitudes and stronger gender stereotypes. It also correlates with earlier sexual activity, casual encounters and experiences of sexual aggression, both as victims and perpetrators.

However, due to research limitations, it’s unclear if porn causes these behaviours. Most studies rely on self-reported surveys, which can introduce biases.