Album of the week: Ye (Kanye West ) - 'bully’

It’s Yeezy season again. In the circus that is Kanye West’s universe, it’s easy to forget that he remains one of the most important and active hip-hop artists of our times. Bully is his 12th studio album and shows a man  comfortable in his quirky sonic space and fully open to artistic experimentation - moreso than possibly any other rap superstar outside of Andre 3000.

He kicks off his 18-track project with the egotistical, King and from there weaves in and out of self-reflective songs laced with autotune - such as All the Love with Roger Troutman. Those craving the 70s soul samples that defined his early career will delight in Punch Drunk, Preacher Man and Whatever Works. The same can’t be said for some of the lazier samples such as I Can’t Wait that features You Can’t Hurry Love (The Supremes). 

Kanye continues to make music that feels like an extension of his real world: unpredictable, emotionally charged, occasionally contradictory, but always rooted in genuine feeling.  Bully doesn’t attempt to be a polished blockbuster; it aims for expression and intrigue - and on those terms it succeeds. I’m just not loving it, personally.