Who Is Ye

Ye West (formerly known as Kanye West) is a Chicago artist who’s been in the spotlight for many decades. The Chicago Hip-Hop artist was born June 8, 1977. At a young age, West has had an interest in music, especially producing it. West has won multiple awards for his music as he’s the third Hip-Hop artist with the most Grammys, with 24. Over West’s lifetime, he has made 16 studio albums, 12 of them being solo projects. Classics from “The College Dropout,” “Late Registration,” “Graduation,” and more to his new album “Bully,” he has been a staple in Hip-Hop.

Bully: Version 1

On September 28, 2024, West announced his new upcoming album “Bully” during his “Vultures 2” listening party at the Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China. During the event, he previewed two new songs that were on the album “Beauty and the Beast” and “Preacher Man.” These tracks were controversial as they used artificial intelligence for the vocals of West. During this time, West was doing concerts in Shanghai, China, and Incheon, South Korea. The album was set to release on June 15, 2025, on his daughter’s 12th birthday, but instead dropped the preview/EP on June 20th the same year with only 4 songs, which were the two already mentioned plus “Last Breath” and “Damn.” The album was originally set to release with 10 tracks, but was later changed to 18 tracks. 

Bully: The Full Release

West joined the record label Gamma on January 28, 2026, which the label later helped West with marketing for Bully. West announced two new concerts on March 9th in the United States, the first time in 4 years, as he was banned from touring the US for his anti-Semitic remarks. On March 10, billboards across the United States appeared, announcing that the album is going to be released on March 27, it also stated that this new version of Bully feature no artificial intelligence. On the day of release, West hosted multiple listening parties for the album, but the album didn’t release at midnight. The day after the album was intended to be released, it finally dropped on all streaming services after about 6 months of delay. The album reached an official 33.2 million streams, but in its full 24 hours, it reached 50 million streams, being the biggest Hip Hop album debut on streaming this year. “Bully” peaked at the number two spot on Billboard’s Top 200, selling about 152K units in its first week.

Aftermath

The album received mixed reviews from critics, but the fans enjoyed it. Critics claimed that it had strong songs like “All the Love,” “Father,” “I Can’t Wait,” and “Preacher Man,” to name a few. Though it did fall short in most of the songs as they felt “lifeless overall,” it has been one of his best works this decade. Then on April 1st and 3rd, West held his concert in Sofi Stadium. The stage for the concert was a 50-foot-tall sphere designed to be a replica of planet Earth rotating. For the first night, West had Don Toliver as a special guest, while for the second night, West brought out Travis Scott, Lauryn Hill, Zion Marley, Joshua Marley (known as YG Marley), CeeLo Green, and North West. Both shows were sold out, West now has the highest-grossing shows in Sofi Stadium, rapping to over 160 thousand people over those two days. After this massive success, West was set to headline the Wireless Festival in the United Kingdom. This announcement made Pepsi, Diageo, Rockstar Energy Drink, PayPal, and Anheuser-Busch pull their sponsorships out of the festival. The United Kingdom later banned West from entering the country for his anti-Semitic song “HH,” which caused Wireless Festival to cancel due to West being banned.

Bully: Tracklist

“King”

“This a Must”

“Father” (with Travis Scott)

“All the Love” (with André Troutman)

“Punch Drunk”

“Whatever Works”

“Mama’s Favorite” (with Nine Vicious)

“Sisters and Brothers”

“Bully” (with CeeLo Green)

“Highs and Lows”

“I Can’t Wait”

“White Lines”  (with André Troutman)

“Circles”

“Preacher Man”

“Beauty and the Beast”

“Damn”

“Last Breath” (with Peso Pluma)

“This One Here”

Conclusion

Whether you hate or like West, he has influenced many artists throughout the years. From the global heights to rock bottom lows, West has been able to come back. Though his controversies will still follow him, no one can tell if he will ever stop coming back into the public’s view.