The Pop Corporation

And so we begin with (Kan)Ye’s mea culpa lap, after too many years of saying and doing some of the most sincerely awful shit any musician has done in any generation, and no sensible person can just brush that off.

Too often, the worst person you know asks you to separate the art from the artist, but when that artist is selling shirts with swastikas on them and releasing music effectively called ‘Heil Hitler’, it’s not the same as enjoying the music from someone who voted for a political party you don’t like, or did some rubbish shit while they were alcoholic or something.

Now, Ye has been off his meds and tried his darnedest to say he’s a changed man – and broadly speaking, you hope that this time, he’s telling the truth because, when it boils down to it, we’ve heard it all before.

For such a generational talent to absolutely wreck his legacy in this manner has not only sullied the experience of listening to the music we loved from the past, but been a fly in the ointment of our enjoyment of his big swings and cultural statements.

And now, he’s released ‘BULLY’, which has been muttered about for years now, after some false starts with EP versions of the project and all that, and no-one has been able to simply get themselves back on track to see if Ye is getting back to something like his best or not.

BECAUSE HE KEPT TELLING EVERYONE HE WAS A NAZI AND KEPT ENABLING LITERAL RACISTS WHILE HE WAS AT IT.

Should we even care that ‘BULLY’ is finally out? Should we just leave him and his weird fanboys to rot?

Well, the promise of this project always felt like we were being threatened with an album that married the robo-gloom of the brilliant ‘808s & Heartbreak’ with the grand sweeps of ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’, and whether we like ourselves for it or not, we’re interested in an album that does that.

We found ourselves doing the listening equivalent of squinting to see if such an album emerged, trying to ignore all the external noise in a bid to look at the music for what it is, which of course, is incredibly difficult given that the external noise had completely taken over Kanye’s career for too long, basically becoming the sole reason anyone talked about him since 2016’s ‘The Life Of Pablo’.

There’s been seven albums in that interim period, which were patchy at best, and the ‘old Kanye’ was already long dead, so where does this album land?

For our money, this feels most like a continuation of ‘YEEZUS’, with stark digital beats coupling up with the pitched-up soul samples, and on production alone, it’s probably the most interesting thing he’s done in a decade.

However, what made Kanye’s albums fizz with energy was his ability to lay himself raw, or a funny zinger in his lyrics which, sadly, is lacking on ‘BULLY.’ Sure, it sounds like he’s trying his best, but after a decade of bullshit, his brain sounds tired and sometimes, trite.

‘THIS IS A MUST’ musically, sounds decent, but vocally, it sounds meandering and worn out, which is frustrating. Andre Troutman appears a couple of times to deliver some hooks, but by the time you’re listening to them, you’re reminded that there might still be a great version of Ye in there, but it’s just buried under too much detritus and even he might not be able to get himself out of it.

This is not to say he won’t remain popular, and that his three nights at Wireless that are coming won’t be heavily populated – but only a fool would bet their house against the idea that Kanye may well say something so horrible and unswervingly bleak, that we’ll be back to square one.

If we do ignore the possibility that Ye might still fuck everything up for everyone some more, and simply look at what we’re listening to, then truthfully, some of the tracks sound good enough that you kinda wish he’d produced some beats for someone else to perform over, under a pseudonym, to really test the waters, because as a performer, Ye lacks the bite and sizzle he once had in barrowloads.

Maybe this isn’t the comeback album. Much of it was made during The Bad Years. Maybe, if we’re being fair (but honestly – why should anyone be fair? Just because we liked some records doesn’t put all the toxicity back in the box? And music writing isn’t meant to be balanced like the Actual News, right?), the next record is the one he should be judged on?

Whatever, people will still write about him, wonder if he’s able to recapture some of the greatness, and all that stuff. There’s a general sense that we hope he’s healing, but he’s going to have to do more than put out a press release about being off his meds and whatever this album is.