
Chicago, Illinois rapper, singer/songwriter, producer, fashion designer & former G.O.O.D. Music founder Ye formerly known as Kanye West finishing his long-delayed 12th studio LP. Someone who I personally have considered a top 10 producer of all-time up until this point with 3 perfect 10s in his discography: The College Dropout, Late Registration & My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He sadly lost touch with reality in 2025 for a 4-month manic episode amplifying the hate speech he’s been spewing since late 2022, for which he claims to be deeply mortified & has deep regret over. However, the final version of Bully is among us now that gamma. signed a distribution deal with YZY SND removing all the YeI vocals that plagued the unfinished version of it around this time 12 months earlier.
The self-produced “King” samples “Reach for a Star” thanking Martin Luther King Jr. for him marrying Bianca Censori whereas “This a Must” goes for an industrial hip hop vibe talking about him coming for the glory during the Graduation era & the 9 Vicious adlibs were unexpected. “Father” featuring Travis Scott with co-production from Che Pope flips “Heavenly Father, You’ve Been Good” by Johnnie Frierson speaking of waking up to new versions of themselves leading into “All the Love” averagely covering “All the Hate” by Antie Marie, although I did enjoy how YZY’s Head of Music 88-Keys sampled “Fayek Alaya” by Fairuz.
North West instrumentally takes it back to the College Dropout/Late Registration days on the chipmunk soul-inspired “Punch Drunk” rapping about him having to lead to read between the lines just before “Whatever Works” flips “Don’t Wonder Why” by Cissy Houston assuring the pain & hurt he’s been through could’ve been a lot worse. “Mama’s Favorite” heavily builds itself around Ty$’s background vocals thanks to YZY SND in-house producer 1SRAEL of Working on Dying remembering his late mother Donda while “Sisters & Brothers” survives the infamous In a Perfect World sessions chopping up both “Get Involved” by Jonah Thompson & “My Loleatta (Dish Apella)” by Ellis D to discuss his antihero status.
The title track ends the 1st half sampling “Mujhe Maar Daalo” by Ashle Bhostle courtesy of The Legendary Traxster addressing all the controversy he got himself into between February & May of last year while “Highs & Lows” comes through with a cover of “Pies & Toes” by Antie Marie that wasn’t as strong as the original version due to the sample not being cleared in time. “I Can’t Wait” flips “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes talking about figuring the system out & being consecutive at shutting shit down while “White Lines” samples Stevie Wonder’s cover of “They Long to Be (Close to You)” by The Carpenters admitting he belongs by himself sometimes
“Circles” might be the only track on the album that I don’t care for & it has nothing to do with Don Toliver handling all of the vocal performances, but rather the way “Huit Octobre 1971” by Cortex is being sampled. Makes me wanna listen to one of my favorite Madvillain songs “1 Beer” instead. “Preacher Man” has to be a top 5 on the whole thing flipping “To You with Love” by The Momentstalking about the plot twist being convenient when there isn’t any lies told there while “Beauty & the Beast” originally conceived from the Donda sessions according to Mike Dean sampling “Don’t Have to Shop Around” by The Mad Lads singing about overcoming a few things when I’d say it’s more than a few.
The song “Damn” has a significantly minimal approach to the beat pondering whether Ye ruined things or if it’s because this is the way he is while “Last Breath” featuring Peso Pluma comes together over a sample of “Bésame Mama” by Poncho Sanchez, going full Latin to tackle the concept of toxic relationships. “This One Here” ends the album with a reworked version of a leftover from him & James Blake’s cancelled collaborative effort War looking back at all the hot water he got himself into since 2022, clarifying with confidence that he’s healed & moved on from it all in addition to killing his ego when the argument can be made that we haven’t seen Ye’s ego in it’s final form yet.
Hype Williams’ visuals as a fan of the ブシロード-owned 新日本プロレス deserve to mentioned, adding onto his recent attendances at events put on by the サイバーファイト-owned division プロレスリング・ノア & DDTプロレスリング’s sister promotion 東京女子プロレス (TJPW). Appearances in the video include former 2-time NEVER無差別級6人タッグチャンピオン & 6-time IWGPジュニアタッグチャンピオン ヨウ, former 3-time IWGPタッグチャンピオン, 7-time NEVER無差別級6人タッグチャンピオン & GHCタッグチャンピオン 矢野 通, AJPW世界ジュニアヘビー級チャンピオン, NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion, 6-time IWGPジュニアヘビー級チャンピオン, 2-time IWGPジュニアタッグチャンピオン & 2-time GHCジュニアヘビー級タッグチャンピオン タイガーマスクIV and former 5-time IWGPジュニアヘビー級チャンピオン, CMLL Arena Coliseo Parejas Campeon, 4-time IWGPジュニアタッグチャンピオン, NEVER無差別級6人タッグチャンピオン & GHCジュニアヘビー級タッグチャンピオン エル・デスペラード.
You’ll always have that group of people who say they won’t forgive Ye or listen to his music ever again after everything he said & did the year earlier, which is absolutely more than understandable & I can’t place blame on anyone for feeling that way because of morally obvious reasons. Nevertheless: If he’s truly committed to taking accountability or receive treatment to break a destructive cycle he’s based nearly his entire career off of, then Bully’s a start because merely calling it superior to the Vultures series would be a ginormous understatement. The production’s heavily reliant on the use of samples bouncing between the styles of neo-soul, experimental hip hop, drumless, chipmunk soul, alternative R&B, art pop, industrial hip hop & urban contemporary gospel revitalizing his passion now that he’s under the reign of a major label.
Score: 4/5
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