Kanye West Reveals 'Bully' Release Date, Teases Using AI On Album

Kanye West has shared some key details about his upcoming album Bully, some of which may surprise fans.

In a clip from his new interview with Justin Laboy, which was premiered during an event in Los Angeles on Sunday night (February 2), the Chicago rap icon revealed the release date for his 11th solo LP.

“My oldest said that we got to drop it in June,” he said, referring to his 11-year-old daughter North, who then turned to and asked: “Didn’t Yeezus come out on your birthday?

“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.”

North’s birthday falls on June 15.

Ye also explained the meaning behind the album’s title, which he said was inspired by his son Saint (who graces the cover) “kicking” another child while playing with them.

KANYE WEST

BULLY
(ALBUM)

JUNE 15TH 🚨 pic.twitter.com/2gc7W67Gwp

— Kurrco (@Kurrco) February 3, 2025

Elsewhere during the lengthy conversation, Kanye hinted at harnessing the power of artificial intelligence on Bully, a divisive tool that he flirted with on his two Vultures albums 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,'” he said.

“As an artist, I can take anything. I can sell a piece of shit for $10 million [laughs]. [AI] is in the same family [as Auto-Tune], except people have a more visceral reaction.”

Asked if AI is the future of music or merely a crutch, Ye replied: “It’s time for me to explain to people the power of AI in music. So I’ll take a sample — and this is like a dream come true back in the days when you used to have the 24-track stems and reel, and they would tape it on a CD or tape it digitally, and you got the different parts.

“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 played a snippet of an unreleased song, presumably intended for Bully, which appears to have used AI software to recreate his vocals.

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The G.O.O.D. Music founder also confirmed during the chat that esteemed producer/engineer and longtime collaborator Mike Dean will be involved in the making of Bully, saying: “We about to ye-zy.”

The full interview is expected to be released soon through Laboy’s The Download podcast.

Kanye West has yet to release a single from Bully, although he has teased multiple tracks from the album.

The project, his first solo effort since 2021’s Donda, is said to be a return to his College Dropout blueprint of Yeezy handling production duties by himself.

“Kanye is now living in Tokyo and living in a hotel hard at work on his next album Bully. It’s a concept album and he plans to be the only producer on it,” journalist Touré reported last year.

“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.”