In the aftermath of his anti-Semitic antics, controversial artist Kanye West released the album “Bully” on March 27, his first full album since 2021’s “Donda.”

The album is certainly not the return of the king for Ye. 

Its sound, more lo-fi and autotuned, is not reminiscent of the Graduation Trilogy or “My Beautiful, Dark Twisted Fantasy,” but instead of his 2007 album “808s and Heartbreaks.”

But this is not to say the album ever reaches the heights of “808s and Heartbreaks,” instead, it feels at times unfinished or unwhelming. 

Ye’s vocal delivery throughout the entire album is subdued and his rapping feels stagnant.

His lyricism, which has been steadily declining since his 2016 album, “The Life of Pablo,” continues to plateau as Ye finds a middle ground between passable and uninspiring. 

“Bully” does have a personal quality for Ye, as he navigates the fallout from his controversies regarding his openly anti-Semitic behavior and his past career. 

The opening tracks, “King” and “This is a Must”, both blend together using heavy, clunking snares and harsh sirens – creating an effect that doesn’t pull the listener in, but does keep them intrigued to hear more. 

One of the early highlights of the album is “Father”, featuring Travis Scott. 

Scott’s music is heavily influenced by Ye and the two’s collaboration feels similar to Ye’s collaborations with Jay-Z in the past. 

Another standout is “All the Love”, featuring André Troutman. 

A track using heavy autotune in a way that creates a synthy, ethereal sound. 

The album’s title track, “Bully,” featuring CeeLo Green, is the most-polished track.

Its instrumental is clean and the vocal deliveries of Ye and Green blend in the most melodically cohesive way. 

“I Can’t Wait” uses samples effectively to create a catchy rhythm. 

Though, the album is certainly filled with tracks that fall into the categories of either passable or forgettable. 

“Highs and Lows” – perhaps the most aptly titled track to describe the album – sees Ye create a catchy hook through his delivery, but is lost in a sea of similar sounding tracks. 

“Bully” uses a heavy amount of sampling – a characteristic of every Ye project. 

Though, unlike in previous works, the sampling does nothing beyond serve as the opening to songs or instrumental anchors. 

Ye never reaches the heights of sampling he had previously reached on past tracks like “Through the Wire,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’,” “I Wonder,” “Slow Jamz” or “Touch the Sky.”

But of course he didn’t. 

Those tracks all came out during Ye’s prime and his state as an artist now feels entirely alien. 

And perhaps it’s unfair to compare “Bully” to any of his prior albums, even his less celebrated projects like “808s and Heartbreaks” and “The Life of Pablo.”

Ye’s trajectory as an artist has gone beyond controversy, shock or infamy into something much more crushing – mediocrity. 

There is not a more apt word to describe “Bully” both as an album and artistic work. 

Ye never crafts the near-orgasmic sounds he was able to produce at the peak of his abilities. And he never brings the off-putting lyrics or controversial subject matter that kept even his worse tracks discussed in music circles. 

Even in his mostly panned albums like “Vultures I”, Ye still produced stadium anthems like “Carnival” and bizarre tracks like “Back to Me.”

“Bully” has none of that. 

Its best tracks fall either low or don’t place at all in the ranking of Ye’s best work – mostly the latter. 

Every artist has their moment where listeners realize they no longer have it. 

Eminem’s was “Recovery”, Jay-Z’s was “Magna Carta Holy Grail” and Nas’ was “Nasir.”

And now Ye has “Bully.”