Famous rapper Kanye West has delivered for us all, releasing his first album since Vultures 2 (2024). His twelfth studio album features a blend of alternative hip-hop, industrial rap, and neo-soul. The album features notable guest artists such as Travis Scott, Peso Pluma, and CeeLo Green. All 18 tracks were set to be performed sometime during a 2026 world tour but was cancelled due to political backlash over antisemitic comments.
The album features 18-tracks that critics have hailed as a return to his “soul-sampling” roots while maintaining the experimental edge of his later work. The track list is anchored by standout songs like “PREACHER MAN” and “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST”, balancing high-energy collaborations with artists like Travis Scott and Peso Pluma against deeply personal solo reflections. By blending nostalgic “chipmunk soul” aesthetics with modern industrial textures, the project delivers a cohesive narrative and a level of vocal focus that marks a significant stylistic pivot from his previous Vultures era.
Beyond the track list itself, Bully is distinguished by its unique recording process, as Ye reportedly self-produced a significant portion of the album while living in Tokyo, seeking a more solitary and “hand crafted” sound compared to his recent collaborative “camps”. The project itself serves as a sharp thematic pivot from the Vultures trilogy, leaning into introspective lyricism regarding his legacy and family, which is bolstered by the return of high-quality live instrumentation on tracks like “ALL THE LOVE”. Furthermore, the albums rollout was notable for its minimalist marketing, marketing towards traditional listening parties for a surprise drop on digital platforms and featuring cover art shot by Ivan Rodriguez that captures the raw, unpolished aesthetic of the music.
Though this album gives a positive inflection of West, his career and public image were fundamentally altered by a series of antisemitic remarks and hate speech that began in late 2022, including a tweet about going “death con 3 on Jewish people” and praising Hitler. These actions led to a massive professional fallout, resulting in the termination of his high-profile partnerships with brands like Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga, which stripped him of his billionaire status nearly overnight. While he issued a formal apology written in Hebrew on social media in late 2023(shortly before the launch of Vultures), the controversy remains a defining point of his modern legacy.
Kanye Wests legacy in rap has been defined by not only a great discography, but controversy. It is for this reason Ye’s effect on the industry will be disputed by many, as some will see him for the brilliant rapper and songwriter we all knew and loved from the early 2000s to mid 2010s, while others will always see him as the ignorant antisemite who plagued his own reputation in the early 2020s.
