Kanye West’s “BULLY” is a soulful expression of soulless subject matter
Written and edited by Graham Rogers.
Editor’s note – this review was written by a massive Kanye fan.
BULLY almost sounds like a return to form for Kanye–until you listen to any song he released on any album from Donda or before. On a thematic, or even personal level, this album says nothing. Kanye has one of the most engaging, interesting personal histories in modern pop culture. Even if you hate him (which is fair), he is in many ways like a car crash. He’s almost impossible to look away from or ignore; an aspect that feels inexplicably linked to his beginnings, a twist of fate which saw a monolithic influence rise from the wreckage of what for most others was a career-ending car crash.
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Much of bully almost sounds metatextual; at fear of sounding like a theatre kid, it really ends up in the vein of a less self-aware bo burnham.
Kanye feels content to rap about “whatever works” in the same way burnham rips pop songs on “repeat stuff”. In reality, what is kanye saying with this song? “whatever works” repeated ad nauseam as if it will eventually make a complete track. what kanye misses is the fact that he doesnt understand the inside joke he seems to have put himself in.
he says fucking nothing on bully.
I want to hear kanyes perspective on life, it is unique and immensely interesting. he just does not know what to say. he has exhausted his route of anger, learning that people have heard enough from him.
now that he has the spotlight again, people are content with good beats rather than good content. in the vein of Jay-z’s 4:44 i would like to hear kanye exhibit a similar level of self-reflection and maturity, especially considering his age, but that has yet to happen.
maybe after vultures 3 he’ll decide to grow up.