Kanye West once called James Blake his “favorite artist” and they first collaborated over a decade ago. In 2022, the English singer-songwriter and producer also teamed up with the rapper for a project called WAR, which never saw the light of day. Later that year is when Kanye — now Ye — started regularly spewing antisemitism on social media and directly associating with far-right figures and ideology. Ye's comments were widely condemned and he lost several major business partnerships. Now he has released the new album Bully, and Blake is credited on the closing track, "THIS ONE HERE."
Bully arrives on streaming services today, a few months after a polarizing apology the rapper issued in the Wall Street Journal. In that statement, he wrote that he “lost touch with reality” and attributed his behavior to bipolar disorder and a previously undiagnosed brain injury. He disavowed his earlier claims that he was a Nazi and wrote that he was now committed to "accountability, treatment, and meaningful change."
Today Blake announced that he wants his credit removed from Bully — not for moral reasons, but because his "original version is a completely different production in spirit."
On Vault — a direct-to-fan music platform Blake launched in 2024 — a fan wrote, "Ye dropped This One Here with James on the producer credits last night. Really sad that it's all AI vocals — it had lots of potential." In the comment viewed by Stereogum, Blake responded:
The way I pitched his vocals and constructed the track from his freestyle is partially there, majorly peppered with other newervocal takes etc. but the spirit of my actual production is mostly absent other than that. My original version is a completely different production in spirit. Happy for the fans but I've asked to be taken off the producer credits for now as I don't want to take credit for other people's work and this version isn't what I created with Ye
It's not personal! I just hit a point where don't want to be credited on music where I can't affect the end result
It's unclear if "THIS ONE HERE," which credits Don Toliver and Quentin Miller for both writing and production along with Ye and Blake, originated with the abandoned WAR project.
Ye began teasing Bully in 2024, shortly after releasing his latest Ty Dolla $ign collab album Vultures 2, and previewed a few songs on social media and in concert. Talking to influencer Justin LaBoy last year, Ye said the album utilized AI "the same way I incorporated Auto-Tune." He added, “It's time for me to explain to people the power of AI in music." He contradicted that when revealing the tracklist on X earlier this week: "BULLY ON THE WAY NO AI."
Bully was released via YZY and the independent label Gamma. Credited producers besides James Blake include the Legendary Traxster and 88-Keys. In addition to Don Toliver, the features come from Travis Scott, CeeLo Green, André Troutman, and Peso Pluma. There are also vocal appearances from Nine Vicious and Ty Dolla Sign. On Thursday night there were Bully listening parties in four US cities where Ye previewed the album. It was also livestreamed on YouTube.
James Blake's latest album, Trying Times, was released two weeks ago via his own Good Boy Records.
