Kanye's Bully Is Actually Not Bad?

Kanye just dropped his twelfth studio album, and after sitting with it for some time I will be honest. What I expected did not match what I received. After the absolute mess of the "Vultures" rollout and all that AI slop, I had zero expectations. I had made my peace with the fact that he had completely fallen off. I was not even going to tune in, but then I saw everyone glazing the album, and I had to step in.

First, let me get this out of the way. It is not bad, but it could have been so much better. The bar for Kanye is so low right now that if he drops a mediocre album, everyone starts calling it generational. This is the same guy who made countless perfect albums.

That said, the first two thirds of "Bully" are genuinely solid. It starts strong with "King" and "Father," which are great songs, but "All the Love" threw me off so bad I thought this was going to be album of the year. It is the best song here by a mile, and honestly might be his best track in the last five years.

The Asha Bhosle sample on the title track surprised me a lot. But the Stevie Wonder "Close to You" sample on "White Lines"? Man. It immediately reminded me of Frank Ocean's cover, and then I just got sad, because who knows when we are ever getting that next Frank album.

The last half though is painfully rough. Tracks like "Circles," "Last Breath" and "This One Here" gave me immediate "Vultures" flashbacks. I am not even going to dwell on the mixing right now, because he claims it is getting fixed next week. We will see about that.

The project leans into a raw, unfinished structure, but somehow it still makes sense. It also raises a bigger question about where Kanye even fits in the culture now, something we will glance at in the coming episodes. Overall, I am just happy we got some actual good music from him again.

Our rating: 6 out of 10. Let us know your favourite song on "Bully" in the comments.