Kanye West has unleashed an early version of his latest album “Bully” over the weekend, but don’t expect the typical rollout, according to hiphopdx.com. Dubbed “BULLY V1,” the project arrived not as a polished LP but as a 45-minute black-and-white music video on YouTube and Apple Music.
The visual, directed by Ye and edited by Hype Williams, stars his nine-year-old son Saint swinging a mallet at wrestlers—a surreal companion to the sonic chaos.
This isn’t the Bully fans anticipated. The nine-track release scraps the Playboi Carti and Ty Dolla $ign collab “Melrose” amid Kanye’s fallout with the duo, reworks the track order, and leans heavily on vintage soul samples, emotive loops, and gritty boom bap drums. The lone guest, Mexican star Peso Pluma, joins Ye on “Last Breath,” where the Chicago icon even spits bars in Spanish. Kanye claims he “chopped every beat with my bare hand,” and the production shines as some of his strongest in years. Vocals, though? That’s another story—half the singing-heavy album relies on AI, a choice Ye openly admits.
Originally slated for a June 15 release tied to daughter North’s birthday, Bully’s future remains hazy after Kanye’s recent social media rants hinting at a streaming boycott.
His Vultures trilogy with Ty Dolla $ign also hangs in limbo amid public jabs at collaborators. Love him or hate him, Kanye’s keeping the world guessing—and talking. Whether this raw, unconventional drop is genius or a misfire, it’s undeniably Ye.
•Featured image by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
