Kanye West is back at the center of a conversation he partly started himself. The rapper took to X this week to share what appears to be the official tracklist for Bully, his long-anticipated album, pairing the reveal with a pointed declaration that the project was made without the use of artificial intelligence.
The 13-track listing includes previously heard songs like Beauty and the Beast and Preacher Man, offering the clearest picture yet of what the album will look like whenever it finally arrives. West has been teasing the project since September 2024, when he debuted Beauty and the Beast during a performance in Haikou, China, and a firm release date has remained elusive despite an earlier target of March 20 through independent music company Gamma.
Kanye West and the AI question that will not go away
The denial would be straightforward if not for what West said about AI just last year. In a widely circulated interview, he described folding artificial intelligence into his creative process much the same way he once embraced Auto-Tune, treating it as a tool rather than a substitute for genuine artistry. He spoke enthusiastically about using AI to isolate individual elements of a track and streamline communication with his engineers.
Observers also noted that footage from the interview showed him using a platform designed to transform vocals through AI technology. The combination of those details made his current denial harder to take at face value for some followers, even as people close to West, including his music manager and other associates, have backed up his claim that Bully contains no AI-generated content.
The contradiction has added another layer of intrigue to an album rollout that has been anything but conventional. West also released a short film titled Bully V1 on X earlier this year, featuring his son Saint West and previewing a significant portion of the tracklist he shared this week.
A turbulent two years in the background
The Bully rollout has unfolded against one of the most chaotic stretches of West’s public life. He faced separate accusations of sexual assault and sexual battery from two plaintiffs in late 2024. Shortly after, he published a series of posts on X in which he described himself using deeply offensive terms that drew widespread condemnation and significant backlash from fans, collaborators and industry figures alike.
Earlier this year, West took out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in what appeared to be an attempt at a public reckoning. He attributed his past behavior to bipolar disorder and a traumatic brain injury sustained in a 2002 car crash, saying the injury had gone undiagnosed for more than two decades. He framed the message not as an appeal for sympathy but as a request for patience while he works through a deeply personal period.
What comes next for the album
As of now, West has not announced a new release date for Bully following the missed March 20 window. The tracklist reveal signals that the project is real and presumably close, but the rapper has a long history of moving timelines in unexpected directions. Whether the AI controversy slows momentum or simply becomes another footnote in one of music’s most unpredictable careers remains to be seen.
For fans who have been following the project since its first preview in China, the wait continues. And the conversation about what exactly went into making Bully is clearly far from over.
