Everything we know about Kanye West's upcoming AI album 'BULLY'

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, sat down for an exclusive interview on The Download Podcast with Justin Laboy this past week, revealing major details about his upcoming solo album BULLY.

The interview premiered at an exclusive viewing event in Los Angeles on Sunday during the 2025 Grammys. West was seen confirming the album's official release date, which will be June 15, 2025, his daughter's birthday.

"My oldest said that we got to drop it in June. Yeah, so we’re gonna do it on her birthday. That’s when we’re gonna bring Bully out ’cause that’s her favorite album,” he said.

The album was first announced during Kanye West's visit to Haikou, China, in September 2024, where 40,000 fans at the sold-out Haikou Wuyuan River Sports Park were given their first listen to a record titled Beauty and the Beast.

Frequent collaborator and industry producer Mike Dean would later confirm via a comment under a BULLY announcement post, that Beauty and the Beast was an unreleased record that was left off West's 2022 demo album Donda 2.

During his interview with Justin Laboy, Kanye West confirmed that Mike Dean would be an official collaborator and producer on his upcoming solo album, claiming their work together was "Ye-zy".

While the project's tracklist is yet to be revealed, fans have received the official cover art for BULLY, which features his son Saint West captured in a raw black-and-white photograph, credited to Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama.

He also recently credited his daughter North West, in an Instagram post, praising her for helping him "fall back in love" with making music.

"This little girl made me love music again. She asked me to make beats for her I got back on the ASR Chopped up beats for her album and chopped every beat with my bare hand for BULLY," Kanye West wrote in his caption.

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Kanye West explains using AI on 'BULLY' during exclusive interview with Justin Laboy

Kanye West's BULLY marks his first solo album in over three years, officially following up on his demo project Donda 2, which was exclusively released via his stem player in 2022.

Ever since the project was announced, anticipation and online hype over the album have been rising amongst the Chicago rapper's massive fanbase, who received several teasers during Ye's interview with Justin Laboy on Sunday (February 2).

Justin Laboy attends Floyd Mayweather's birthday bash at The Gabriel Miami South Beach on February 24, 2022, in Miami Beach, Florida. (Image via Getty/Mark Brown)

The rapper also seemed to allude to the use of Artificial Intelligence on BULLY, which doesn't come as a surprise to many who believed that West had integrated AI into his collaborative Vultures album series with Ty Dolla $ign.

"People are like, ‘Stay away from AI.’ It’s a more negative reaction than Auto-Tune. I remember I did Auto-Tune ’cause people thought, ‘Man, this Auto-Tune is trash. As an artist, I can take anything. I can sell a piece of sh*t for $10 million. [AI] is in the same family [as Auto-Tune], except people have a more visceral reaction.” Kanye West stated.

When questioned on whether he believed Artificial Intelligence is the future of music, Ye claimed it was time to explain the "power of AI" to the people. He began to break down the effectiveness of using AI in sample chopping and production, calling it a "dream come true," stating:

“Right now, you can take any song and separate it — just get the vocals, just get the bassline, the drums — and completely separate it. So when I send a song or a sample to my engineers, I just say, ‘JS, AI.’ My engineer John Scott. It’s like we’re speaking AI, like THX [1138], the movie that George Lucas did before Star Wars.”

Kanye then previewed a few tracks off his upcoming album for Justin, which included him showcasing the use of AI on a track. The record seemingly replaces vocals sung by rapper Lil RT, with his own.

"If she ain't suckin' di*k, lil' b***h, you can get the f**k up out my sh*t / Hundred round, hit him with the Glock, take a f**ker down / Hundred round, b***h, we in that Kia, we gon' take him down / 12 get behind me, we gon' do sixty f**kin' miles, yeah," Kanye raps on 'BULLY'.

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Another notable moment during Kanye West's exclusive interview with Justin Laboy found the Chicago rapper commenting on last year's Drake vs Kendrick Lamar rap beef.

Ye seemingly draws similarities between the OVO CEO and Steph Curry, suggesting that, while many believe Drake lost the 2024 Rap Beef, the Canadian rapper can't be counted out just yet.