Kanye West Unconventionally Releases New Album ‘Bully’ On Streaming

Ye has finally released his long-awaited new album Bully, but it isn’t as simple as searching for it on your preferred streaming platform and pressing play. His recently dissolved friendships play a huge part in why the YouTube and now-deleted Apple Music versions differ.

The artist formerly known as Kanye West uploaded a 45-minute video to YouTube this past weekend, the same one he leaked on X in the middle of one of his recent problematic rants. The visual, titled “BULLY V1,” finds his nine-year-old son Saint wielding a mallet while fighting off wrestlers in a ring as the album’s records play in the background.

The now-unavailable Apple Music version, however, had some changes. Bully was originally a 10-song project, but the Apple edition omits “Melrose” featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Playboi Carti. The Chicago producer fell out with Ty after Ty denounced his anti-Semitism, and recently went at Carti for not including his vocals on his latest album Music, but expressing his desire to work with his daughter, North.

Ye’s Apple Music version of Bully also features a different order from the original tracklist, and Peso Pluma is the only guest appearance on “Last Breath.” Bully is primarily a singing effort by the controversial artist, but the presence of AI is highly noticeable. The album was originally supposed to come out on June 15, notably North West’s birthday, but something drove him to release this version of it earlier.

Ye may have wanted to bring attention to himself following the positive reception of Playboi Carti’s latest album Music. The album included three separate Kendrick Lamar features, which he addressed in a tweet on its release weekend. “I DONT LIKE KENDRICK LAMARS MUSIC HE RAPS VERY GOOD BUT I DIDNT NEED TO HEAR HIM ON CARTI ALBUM,” he wrote.

Charlamagne Tha God previously accused the Vultures artist of being jealous of Lamar’s success after he went on another problematic tweet spree during Super Bowl LIX weekend, where K. Dot performed at the Apple Music halftime show. Figuring out the method to Ye’s madness is a full-time job, but those who were waiting for Bully now can at least access a version of it that he believed was good enough to publish to the masses.