Bully

About

For some, there’s simply no road back for this once-ubiquitous hip-hop star, but the quantifiable chart successes of 2024’s twin <i>VULTURES</i> volumes with Ty Dolla $ign suggest no small appetite for Ye’s latter-day output. With <i>BULLY</i>, and its preceding apologia, the artist formerly known as Kanye West steps back into the spotlight to be inevitably judged by those who choose to hear it. Having expanded his 2025 stopgap three-track EP of the same name into this full-length effort, with the previously released songs couched towards the album’s end, he swiftly summarizes his situation on opener “KING,” its electronic prog-rock underpinning recalling the maximalism of 2010’s <i>My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy</i>. Yet much of the new material here scarcely surpasses the two-minute mark, including “HIGHS AND LOWS” and “WHATEVER WORKS.” That abbreviated approach allows him to revisit signature styles defined earlier in his year, evidenced by the chopped soul of “PUNCH DRUNK,” as well as play with more contemporary forms like the trap-informed “THIS A MUST.” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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