Kanye West has shared what appears to be a taste of his upcoming album Bully, and has also given a teaser about the highly anticipated project’s progress.
The controversial superstar posted to Instagram on Tuesday (October 15), sharing audio of a new song called “Beauty and the Beast.”
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He billed the song as “live from Haikou,” meaning his Vultures Listening Experience performance last month at Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, Hainan Province of China. He noted that the track was “updated in Tokyo.”
Check the song out below.
In his post, West said that Bully, which he announced at the aforementioned China performance, is “on the way.”
Ye is is reportedly going to be the sole producer on the project, marking the first time he’s handled all (if not the vast majority) of the beats on a project since his 2004 debut The College Dropout.
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According to journalist and podcaster Touré, Ye is now living in Japan and hard at work on his first solo album since 2020’s Donda.
Touré said in a video posted on Instagram: “Kanye is now living in Tokyo and living in a hotel hard at work on his next album Bully. He’s recording the album in the hotel room. Like, all the machines are set up in the hotel room.”
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He then shared more details about the project, saying: “It’s a concept album and he plans to be the only producer on it. Traditionally, Kanye is the product of a team, there are producers helping him, there are writers helping him, he comes with the big ideas but there’s others in.
“Not this time. This time, Kanye is gonna make this pretty much by himself. A fresh chapter in his life because in Tokyo he can be who he wants to be.”
On his Substack, Touré added: “He’s pulling from an eclectic pool. He’s traveled the world a lot so he’s aware of a lot more music than probably ever before. So I think sound-wise, it’s probably varied. But in a Kanye-esque form.”
He also noted: “This album is 100% him. They meant it’s pretty much made by Kanye alone. He’s producing everything 100% himself. This will be 100% Kanye West, which it hasn’t been in many, many years.
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Touré, who has interviewed Kanye in the past, most notably in 2004 for Rolling Stone, cited an unnamed source close to the rap legend.
