BULLY

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 summarises 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 years, evidenced by the chopped soul of “PUNCH DRUNK”, as well as play with more contemporary forms like the trap-informed “THIS A MUST”. While Ye’s voice and perspective invariably drives <i>BULLY</i>, a select number of guests also make notable contributions. One-time protege Travis Scott returns for the frenzied single “FATHER”, while Scott’s own Cactus Jack signee Don Toliver shows up for the sample-laden segue “CIRCLES”. Mere weeks after dropping the third and final Gnarls Barkley album, CeeLo Green delivers a characteristically boisterous feature on the Tarantino-esque title track. Yet by the finale, “THIS ONE HERE”, Ye’s once again on his own, singing with autobiographical urgency over James Blake’s airy co-production.