Bully is the eleventh studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. He announced it in September 2024 and released multiple versions, with different tracklists, in March 2025. Bully is a concept album mostly produced by West and features guest appearances from Peso Pluma, Ty Dolla Sign, and Playboi Carti, though only Pluma appears in every track listing.
Bully was recorded as West became the subject of controversy for promoting hate speech, including making antisemitic statements, endorsing Nazism, and insulting family and associates, on his Twitter account. While Bully's current cover art features Saint, West also posted another cover featuring a Nazi swastika. West initially announced a release date of June 15, 2025, but surprise released multiple versions on Twitter on March 18, asserting it remained a work in progress. Bully has received positive reviews, with praise for its production.
Prior in 2024, West released two collaborative albums with fellow rapper Ty Dolla Sign as ¥$, Vultures 1 and Vultures 2.[1] Both albums received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with Vultures 2 particularly criticized for being released in an unfinished state, along with its alleged use of AI vocals.[2][3] Following their release, record producer and musician Digital Nas shared text messages from West indicating his intention to go into "full art studio mode",[4] which confirmed claims by the CEO of West's touring company, Channel Candy, that West had been working on solo material following his show in South Korea. On September 26, West posted a video on Instagram showing himself using an ASR-10 keyboard to create "Preacher Man", a song previously previewed at listening events.[5] An instrumental containing Bollywood samples was posted to West's Instagram page at the same time, which was later revealed to be the title track "Bully".[citation needed]
A snippet of unreleased track "This Is The Glory" was accidentally played during West's event in Haikou, causing many to speculate that the song may be featured on the album.[citation needed] Similar theories arose when a close associate of West, Mark Seekings, posted a photo on Instagram of the inside of his car, with an unreleased track with a name that is currently unknown playing on the dashboard.[citation needed]
During a Vultures 2 event on September 28 at the Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China, West announced he was working on a new album titled Bully.[6] He previewed the tracks "Beauty and the Beast" and "Preacher Man", stating both were intended for the album. Both of the tracks were praised for their soulful production.[7] He continued to post several previews of the two tracks on Instagram and his YZY website in the following days.[8] American music journalistTouré reported West was living in Tokyo and that Bully would be a concept album inspired by his solitude, with West as its sole producer: "Traditionally, [Ye] is the product of a team—there are producers [and] writers helping him; he comes with the big ideas but there's others involved. [Ye] is gonna make [Bully] pretty much by himself. A fresh chapter in his life because in Tokyo he can be who he wants to be."[9][10][4][11] Despite this claim, multiple rappers and producers have taken photos of themselves in the same hotel room that West uses in recording sessions, such as Don Toliver, Malik Yusef, and Sean Leon.[citation needed] In his newsletter, Touré also stated the album was fully self-produced by West, who was also crafting it as a concept album.[9][10]
On October 18, West uploaded a music video for "Beauty and the Beast" to both Apple Music and his website.[citation needed] It consists of footage taken during the song's premiere at his show in Haikou, China.[citation needed] The Apple Music video was taken down on October 19, and an additional animated visual for the songs instrumental was uploaded to the website YZY ONE.[citation needed] On October 25, West released a merchandise collection for Bully and made the album available for physical pre-order.[12]
On February 3, 2025, in an interview with Justin LaBoy, West said Bully would feature artificial intelligence (AI) and would be released on June 15, coinciding with his daughter North's birthday.[13][14] On February 9, "Beauty and the Beast" was suddenly released on Yeezy.com, featuring new drums and vocals, though AI was still used on the vocals.[15]
On March 6, West announced the album would contain "antisemitic sounds".[16][17][18] He would also share an alternative cover featuring a swastika and previewing a song titled "World War 3".[19] In the song, he reaffirmed that he was "antisemitic, fully."[20] On March 20, West posted on X that "Melrose", a song featuring Playboi Carti and Ty Dolla Sign that was on the preview tracklist, would not be on the album.[21] He replied to a fan asking him to make it solo, where he said that he would "do a solo song to it", with the reason for him originally stating that "Melrose" would not be on the album likely stems from the fact that he felt betrayed that he wasn't on Carti's album, Music.[21]
Synopsis
Bully is a visual album; it is accompanied by a black-and-white short film directed by Hype Williams and starring West's son Saint.[22] The film depicts Saint in a wrestling ring, fending off aggressors with a toy mallet.[23][24] The New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestlers Yoh, Toru Yano, Tiger Mask, and El Desperado portray Saint's opponents.[23] The album plays over the footage,[24] which lasts for about half an hour.[22]GQ's Paul Thompson wrote that the visuals feature "a playfulness, a generosity" reflected in the music.[25]
Billboard's Gil Kaufman wrote that sonically, Bully resembles West's "most experimental, creatively lauded period" from the late 2000s, specifically 808s & Heartbreak (2008) and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010).[24] Kaufman described the songs as "spare, soul-flecked compositions", featuring West crooning with vocals processed through Auto-Tune.[24] West mostly sings instead of rapping,[25] and according to him, half of his vocals are AI-generated audio deepfakes.[26] Thompson wrote that West's use of AI is not immediately obvious, since "[his] vocals for the most part function as texture rather than the songs' engine".[25] He said it becomes clear about halfway through the album due to the vocals' resemblance to those in 808s & Heartbreak.[25]
While West initially announced a release date of June 15, 2025,[13] he surprise released three versions with different tracklists on March 18, 2025, via his Twitter account.[30] He stated that the album was a work in progress and expressed regret for using AI, which he said he came to despise. He intends to re-record the lyrics with his own vocals.[31] He added that he may not release it on digital streaming platforms, because of his belief that "streams are fake and the French and Jewish record labels treat artists like prostitutes".[32][26][24] West released Bully amidst controversy arising from his hate speech during Twitter rants, in which he defended Sean Combs and insulted his ex-wife Kim Kardashian; his former associate Jay-Z, his wife Beyoncé, and their children; and fellow rappers such as Playboi Carti, Tyler, the Creator, and Future.[32][26]
West released a "screening version", a "post Hype version", and a "post post Hype version".[23] On March 22, West published the screening version, dated December 2024, on YouTube.[33] Media publications noted tracklist differences across the versions.[34][35] The screening version does not feature "Melrose", which is the last song in the others.[32]
Artwork and title
Alternative album cover
On October 23, 2024, West posted Bully's cover, shot by the Japanese photographer Daidō Moriyama, on Instagram.[13] It features a black-and-white image of Saint wearing titanium grills, similar to those West has worn since January 2024.[36] West said the title Bully was a reference to Saint, who he observed kicking a kid for being "weak".[14][37]
On March 16, 2025, West tweeted an image of a red Nazi swastika against a black background and claimed it was Bully's new cover art.[38] He also tweeted the Schutzstaffel insignia and claimed it was the new Sunday Service Choir logo.[39] He quickly deleted the tweets,[39] and the YouTube upload features the Saint cover.[33]
Critical reception
Bully has received positive reviews.[40]Billboard's Michael Saponara found that those willing to overlook West's behavior enjoyed Bully and praised it as evocative of his 2000s work, such as 808s & Heartbreak.[32] Thompson wrote that it brought him "no pleasure to report that Kanye West made a good Kanye West album," describing Bully as "not only the best collection of beats he's assembled in more than a decade, but a rich, warm, even optimistic record that feels safely cloistered from the internet, the world, even its primary author."[25] Thompson favorably compared its production to West's singles "Only One" (2014) and "FourFiveSeconds" (2015).[25]The Breakfast Club's Nyla Symone said she liked the Bully songs she had listened to, adding that while she doubted West could make a comeback, "as far as being excellent at his craft, he's never swayed from that."[40]
Track listing
All tracks are produced by West, except where noted.
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