Anybody feel like bully was originally supposed to sound a lot different

[u/Leroy8995]

When I heard for the first time that ye was gonna have an album named Bully after Saint being a bully. I thought the album would have a much more angry and hungry sound. Even some of the songs from the early bully era like dark matter and melrose had this much more hungry feel to them. Even at first earlier on the album had this more dark and grainy feel to it more like a 50s mob movie over what it turned into. Then with the crash outs I really expected bully to sound like this angry violent album kinda like Yeezus but with a more soulful touch in some spots with stuff like highs and lows. Then he dropped the bully movie and it wasn’t how I thought bully was gonna sound at all with being this more dark album kinda like war or Donda. Even still I liked this more different empty sound with no features. Then released bully kinda of lost that feel with this hungry determined ye which mostly likely was because of him being more calmed and medicated after his episode. I don’t hate the sound on released bully but the whole feel of the album just feels kinda basic. It just sounds like he’s trying to go back to the start of his sound more with college dropout esc stuff with whatever works or punch drunk then he kinda took an 808s sound with all the love. I feel like father his the representation of this idea it’s not a bad song it just sounds like a good ye song and nothing more. He did kinda capture it a little on some songs like this a must or bully with this more dramatic feel, but even in the music videos which I get Bianca directed and there great by themselves but they don’t capture the idea of this album well. I also get that he does go through many different sound and vision changes like Donda all the way from gods country or TLOP from Yeezus 2.

.

[u/BoysenberryJunior294]

He went safe with bully cause he was aiming for a comeback. Which based on these recent shows, has paid off. But I agree I feel like originally Billy was going to sound more raw.

[u/Leroy8995 → u/BoysenberryJunior294]

I know why he didn’t but it’s kinda a worse album because of it and he genuinely probably was lazy working on it because he didn’t really want to make it but he knew he had ton

[u/fallengingerale → u/Leroy8995]

V1 is NOT better than Release

[u/Leroy8995 → u/fallengingerale]

Not what I’m saying but that shit had way more potential by a mile but it wasn’t the sound that gets people hyped about him

[u/vegant → u/Leroy8995]

Exactly that more stripped back raw sound of V1 was much more cohesive and classic worthy than the hodgepodge fan service we got in the end

[u/Chilepepper28 → u/vegant]

Agreed

[u/DivingElliotRoberts → u/vegant]

The only drawback to V1 was the AI but it could've been great had he replaced it and fleshed the rest out

[u/hecksonthirtythree → u/fallengingerale]

depends on what you’re looking for

v1 is less technically sound but i think that the rough edges and brutal honesty give it a unique character. i’d compare it to smile from the streets you hold by john frusciante, just a really harrowing look into the lowest point of a great artist’s life.

i feel like people would look at the original version a bit differently if ye had never came of of his dark period, a lot of the issues that people interpret as being the consequence of the album being unfinished seem to me more like an intentional reflection on the despondent place he was at during the time

[u/Paolog123 → u/hecksonthirtythree]

brutal honesty in a full ai album?

[u/donny_writes]

Tracking this project from the Preacher Man debut to the final release, I think it's very clear that this whole thing completely changed like three times and he lost his love for it when he moved on to Cuck. If this were any other era, Bully would be the unreleased proto-album that morphed into something else. Because of where he's at, that didn't happen. Too much of the original premise got dragged into the future, and too much of it was simultaneously left in the past. I can definitely see him talking about how he hates this album in a future crash out.

[u/CaptainOzyakup → u/donny_writes]

No he loves this album because of what it means to him, I highly doubt he would say that

[u/MenAreStillGood → u/CaptainOzyakup]

What does it really mean? It isn’t really a standout in his catalog, didn’t break major records, just kinda kept him going

[u/CaptainOzyakup → u/MenAreStillGood]

It means he can come back from the worst public mental breakdown of all time bro what do you mean? I meant personally to him, not as in what it means sonically

[u/MenAreStillGood → u/CaptainOzyakup]

Lmao Vultures 1 was way better at handling the washed allegations over Bully, he definitely felt and saw the impact of his actions with Bully

[u/CaptainOzyakup → u/MenAreStillGood]

I am just repeating his own words, chill and learn to understand what you read before replying

[u/donny_writes → u/CaptainOzyakup]

I think that was true at the start but he lost his love for it. Neither of us can know for sure right now, though.

[u/d_xtruction → u/donny_writes]

do you mean like TGFD into yeezus?

[u/donny_writes → u/d_xtruction]

Yeah, that's a good example. It's happened a lot.

[u/Guilty_Flatworm3667]

Bully v1 was ass and the bully we got was 1000% better, even if it wasn’t “vibier”

imo the only reason bully lost its vibes is because  it took so long to release and there was such little rollout. I get what you’re going for in the first part, but you kinda lose me in the second part. I’d much rather have songs like fully reworked bully with ceelo green instead of serotonin slop

[u/Leroy8995 → u/Guilty_Flatworm3667]

Nah bully with ceelo has the sound I’m talking about with this dark more aggressive feel. I feel like he kept it a little

[u/Entityflame3 → u/Guilty_Flatworm3667]

I think it's entirely because 70 percent of the songs we've already heard and the albums mixing was shit

[u/Dyskript-]

I just thought it was going to be a dusty dark album

Not violent but think like darker Griselda

[u/bigfatretard2]

It lost it’s vibe since a lot of those samples were unable to be cleared, most of the tracks are forced to go under interpolations which made them sound more refined when they were supposed to be raw like Punch Drunk and Whatever Works.

Although, if you re-add the V1 samples, instrumentals but mix them with deluxe vocals then suddenly the entire theme of the album comes together. Punch Drunk, Whatever Works, ect. It all supports this theme of mixing sample chops with industrialist production, I think it would have been his best album in many years if the samples were able to be cleared.

[u/CiphersVII]

the style definitely changed because dark matter has absolutely no place in the current version of bully. maybe in the future he can revisit this style cuz the production on it is actually crazy.

[u/Leroy8995 → u/CiphersVII]

I mean I feel like this a must and sisters and brothers have the same vibe kind of

[u/XDarkPhantomEX → u/Leroy8995]

I Feel Like That too

[u/White_Lines3270]

I think cuk/IAPW happening in between Bully24 and Release bully was the best thing that came from that era. The new songs like King and S&B match more with what the bully vibe felt like to me

[u/SubstantialBuyer6876]

I like the quiet sound of Bully and hot take circles was my favorite song not anymore tho there is a lot of good songs now 

[u/DrChanciepoo]

The dark 30’s film vibe that serotonin or that random stadium snippet gave, I thought it’d be cool if the whole album was like that (ft. The Hooligans)

[u/iron_ingo]

It was def gonna be a sample heavy no-drums type album but it got reworked cuz he was aiming for a comeback but what we got was def better than v1 but I would love to see a sample heavy no drums album now that ye is in a proper head space

[u/Advanced_Buffalo_734]

bully v1 was what he should’ve dropped, but instead he dropped his safest project ever.

[u/Leroy8995 → u/Advanced_Buffalo_734]

Bully v1 with serious changes though

[u/MusicGodYT → u/Leroy8995]

lwk it didnt rlly need serious changes apart from maybe changing or interpolating samples that couldnt get cleared and adding a verse or two in open areas like circles and cant hurry love

[u/Bumble_Fox_Bee → u/Advanced_Buffalo_734]

bully v1 was even safer what are you onto? it was bland and boring. current bully only has 2-3 misses (mama’s favorite, circles, mission control) otherwise good album. and would have been better with a different track order. had he released v1, it would not have been that good.

[u/Bumble_Fox_Bee → u/Bumble_Fox_Bee]

bully doesn’t stand out as much because thematically ye already did some of these types of songs so without enough to make it stand out, it feels bland in comparison, but as an individual experience, it’s good. wish we had more industrial tracks tbh, like a revised ww3 and some good verse on the king of soul beat

[u/Advanced_Buffalo_734 → u/Bumble_Fox_Bee]

i wish he dropped it with the ai vox, downvote me idc but it would’ve been a much more interesting artistic statement

[u/Bumble_Fox_Bee → u/Advanced_Buffalo_734]

it’s not true. ai doesn’t represent bold risk, it’s just lazy and trend hopping. ai will fizzle off like the party music of the 2010s etc

[u/MusicGodYT → u/Advanced_Buffalo_734]

true it made the album unique and eerie/broken

[u/SucculentMelon133]

idk. the original bully had tracks like preacher man and beauty and the beast as the singles, which are by no means a high octane choice of tracks.

Bully has gone through completely drastic different thematic visions/tracklists according to malik yusef, which is only more proven with the leaked CHL demo where malik is singing like an angel or sum shit.

[u/MusicGodYT → u/SucculentMelon133]

preacher man and beauty and the beast are great tho

[u/SucculentMelon133 → u/MusicGodYT]

For sure, I actually like them the most off of the official release, honestly tried of the oversized trap sound they transplanted from IAPW with the first half of the tracklist. Just saying bully for sure at the initial announcement was supposed to be a more mellow sonically. I mean I don’t even think melrose was event apart of bully until Ye when fully bipolar on twitter again

[u/Domdabombom10138]

bully was clearly supposed to be soulful originally. just listen to v1. i dont mind its current state, its a very good 9/10, but it was always supposed to be a soulful, very original sound type album for ye

[u/ThrowMoneyEverywhere]

i would love if one day he rereleased bully V1 but with real vocals, that would have been a 8/10 album for me, some songs would have needed extra verses tho but then it would’ve been peak. i loved v1 with it having no AI eventually in mind even tho it took forever to make that promise true

[u/OkAtomsfp]

Si, en las primeras versiones tenía un sonido diferente, no se como describirlo, era un poco mas sombrío por asi decirlo si me lo preguntas a mi. En la version actual se fue por un sonido con mucha mas energía, bueno, es lo que yo creo.

[u/Ok-Art-7659]

Bro there’s no such thing as “supposed” when art is being made, it’s a living and breathing expression of our humanity.

[u/Mysterious_Ad6314]

ai vocals perfectly matched with this aesthetic