In the ninth track of Kanye West’s seventh studio album, West — now known as Ye — raps that he misses the old Kanye. 

After listening to Ye’s newest album, “BULLY,” I’ve realized he couldn’t have said it any better. 

I do miss the old Kanye. 

Kanye’s newest album “BULLY” was announced in late 2024, two years ago. The production and making of this album was in the midst of Kanye at his most controversial, constantly saying antisemetic and racist things, targeted at different ethnic groups.

As with almost every other album, “BULLY” was delayed, then delayed, then delayed, over and over again. Towards the end of the album’s release cycle, Kanye apologized for his actions and comments that were hurtful. 

Finally, the album was given a release date, March 27th. March 27th came around, and to no surprise, the album didn’t drop. 

The next day, the long awaited album was released. 

And honestly, I wish it never did.

In this album, Kanye attempts to return to form, with similar beats to those of his previous albums, but falls short. The soul sample beats run on with nothing really special to them, are terribly mixed, and Kanye’s vocals at times don’t even sound like his own. 

Kanye’s bars also have nothing special about them, unlike his previous bars that had much to talk about within them.

 Even after accusations that he used Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the original singles, causing him to take longer to mix the album, it still sounds like he used AI.

There are some decent songs on the album. Songs such as “KING”, “PUNCH DRUNK”, and “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” sound a decent bit like his past work, but the boring production and horrible vocal and backing mix makes them only okay. 

No song on the album stands out as a great track.

This return to normalcy comes from an attempt by Kanye to come back to the culture and himself. After his apology, which was run as an ad in the Wall Street Journal that he himself paid for, Kanye drops this “normal” album to come back as his “former” self but ultimately falls flat due to the album being boring and not well made.

Almost all of Kanye’s albums have remained timeless. Albums such as “Yeezus” still maintain their greatness, and sound as if they could be dropped today. After listening to the album for the first time, I went back and listened to both “Yeezus” and “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” which both maintain their status to this day as incredible “works of art” albums.

Both of these albums have incredible, rich production. Have bars that touch on social commentary about the media, politics, being an African American in America, and Kanye’s emotions, giving more to listen for in every song. Along with that, they are masterfully created. 

These factors to me are what make Kanye Kanye, makes these albums incredible, and are why I listen to Kanye.

“BULLY” contains none of these factors and listening to these albums after it made me not want to even go back and listen to it again, because there was no play value. 

The album sounds rushed and as if he only put forth a quarter of his effort towards making it.

Kanye has lost this ability to produce these timeless albums in the last few years, and “BULLY” remains the same. In a few years, this album will be forgotten, and looked over as even a part of Kanye’s catalogue, overshadowed by his other timeless albums.

I think there are two sides of Ye. Kanye, the musical artist who can make incredible timeless art, and Ye, the man who makes anti-semitical, racist comments and is in constant controversy. 

These two were intertwined in his music over the past few years. I feel this album was an attempt to separate these two, but he has forgotten how to be Kanye the musical artist, and sounds like a hollowed out version of his past self. 

Although Kanye has failed to successfully return to his old musical status, in a way, he has gained back some of his cultural status. For part of the rollout of the album, Kanye performed concerts in cities all over the world, including Los Angeles. Kanye announced 2 shows at SoFi Stadium, one on April 1st and the other on the 3rd. Both of these concerts had over 1 million people in the queue to get tickets, with both selling out. Through these performances, Kanye performed classics along with the new album, showing he still has some cultural status selling out giant stadiums.
However, after Kanye was announced to perform Wireless Festival in the United Kingdom, the festival was cancelled because Kanye was banned from entering the United Kingdom because of past comments and controversies.

After this, Kanye issued an apology and asked to talk to officials in the UK, but yet no matter how many apologies he gives, he won’t be able to outlive his past comments.

Kanye can’t outrun Ye’s damage.

No matter how many albums he puts out or how many performances he does, he has officially dug himself into too deep of a hole of controversy to come back out of. Along with this, no album he can ever put out will match or top his past work before all of the controversy.

At this point in time, Kanye has officially fallen off.