Listening to Kanye West's "I Thought About Killing You" is a jarring experience. The first song off the recently released Ye finds the Chicago artist using a spoken-word stream of consciousness to discuss killing a mysterious person: "Today, I seriously thought about killing you / I contemplated, premeditated murder."

From the outset, it wasn't clear who Kanye's anger was aimed at on the song. Much of his eighth studio album finds the rapper apologizing to his wife, so she didn't appear to be the likely target. Could it be Drake, who famously came after Kanye on "Duppy Freestyle?" After a trip to hear ye in Wyoming, this writer thought it was apparent Kanye was talking about himself and his various tribulations with addiction, politics, and inner conflicts.

On Thursday (June 14), that hunch was proven right by Kanye himself, who took to Twitter to describe the process of killing off one of his signature traits.

"I killed my ego." Kanye wrote. "Who or what is Kanye West with no ego? Just Ye. This is new for me but it’s just how I feel now. I don’t know why. I thought my ego protected me from doubters so that I wouldn’t doubt myself but there has to be a better way to do this."

Kanye's tweets also give potential context to why his new album is simply titled Ye. If the "Ye" moniker is the father of three devoid of all ego, it makes sense why his new album is a far more muted and reflective affair than his previous work.