James Blake has asked to be taken off the producer credits to Kanye West’s new album ‘Bully’ as it is “not what I created”.
Ye premiered his 12th studio album with a YouTube livestream yesterday (March 27) and as of today, it has been available to listen to on most major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.
The record includes production from a range of different artists, including 88-Keys and The Legendary Traxster, and on album closer ‘This One Here’, Blake is credited alongside Ye, Don Toliver and Quentin Miller.
Now, though, Blake has revealed that he has requested for his name to be taken off the credits as he believes the “spirit” of his work has not been represented in the final record.
Responding to a fan on Vault, Blake wrote: “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,” he continued. “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.”
Blake went on to clarify: “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.”
Blake and Ye have a long history together, dating back to when the rapper credited Blake as one of his favourite artists around the ‘Yeezus’ era in 2014. A year later, Blake said that West would feature on ‘The Colour In Anything’ (then titled ‘Radio Silence.)
“Something was supposed to happen; I don’t really know how to describe how that didn’t work out,” Blake explained when the album arrived the following year, sans Ye. “I wanted Kanye to be on the song ‘Timeless’, but the verse didn’t materialize.”
The two went on to work on a joint project known as ‘WAR’ in 2022, but no music from that period was ever officially released.
Earlier today, Ye has also shared the video for the single ‘Father’, which features a verse from Travis Scott. The clip is directed by Ye’s wife Bianca Censori and it features a church setting populated by aliens and knights, with an unexplained Michael Jackson sitting in the background.
Announcing the tracklist earlier this week, Ye said there was no AI used in its creation, contradicting what he had said last year when he claimed that he had incorporated the technology into his writing process in “the same way I incorporated Auto-Tune”.
‘BULLY’ was first announced by West two years ago, and has seen a number of expected release dates come and go. Last June, he previewed it with the singles ‘Preacher Man’, ‘Beauty And The Beast’, ‘Damn’ and ‘Last Breath’.
Ye has also announced an album launch show in Los Angeles, set for April 3, and confirmed more European dates for this year, marking his first headline dates on the continent in 12 years. He is yet to announce any UK shows for this year.
Ye shared numerous highly controversial posts in early 2025, when he took back an apology to the Jewish community for his previous anti-semitic remarks, and declared himself “a Nazi”. He later said on X/Twitter that, “after further reflection”, he’d “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”. But this was followed only a few days later by yet more swastika apparel appearing on his X page.
Last November, West held a meeting with a rabbi and apologised for his anti-Semitic comments.
Then, in January, Ye claimed that his recent apology for his past anti-Semitic comments was not about his forthcoming new album or an attempt to “revive” his career. He also shared details of his bipolar type-1 diagnosis, which he’d dismissed early last year.
