Kanye dropped again this year. This time bringing us a deluxe for BULLY. Calling this a deluxe is basically an understatement. Kanye went ahead and remastered the whole thing. Songs that initially sounded weird or even flat out terrible are now... Fucking amazing.

Songs that initially weren't even close to my favorites are now some of my favorite songs on here after he fixed all the issues. One of these issues being something huge that stained the original record. Kanye used fucking AI for some of the vocals... Are we so deadass. But now on the deluxe, it's all gone. He redid them, added stuff to the existing songs, and added two extra songs on top of that. Which leads me to think this was the version of BULLY he was gonna release at first. It even lines up perfectly. He was originally gonna have 20 tracks on the standard version of BULLY but we only ended up getting 18, now we have the other two missing tracks (which are OK and MISSION CONTROL).

Kanye made a 7.5/10 album into a 9.9/10. How the hell does one do that???

Songs like Sisters And Brothers, White Lines, and Circles all grew on me significantly. I thought Sisters And Brothers was great but not perfect, I thought White Lines was alright, and I thought Circles was worse than anything in existence. Now guess what... Sisters And Brothers is in my top five, so is White Lines, and Circles went from being a 0.5/10 to a 9/10. Crazy work bro😭

However, one thing that hasn't changed is Last Breath is still ASS. But at least it went from a 0/10 to a 0.5/10, that's my GOAT right there🥹

But other than that, Kanye is back for real this time. You get some stuff that sounds like it was ripped straight from the Yeezus era with disgusting, experimental, and industrial production. Tracks like This A Must and King demonstrate this wonderfully. Especially with the previously mentioned King, which is one of my favorite intro tracks Kanye has ever put out. It's so eerie and grimy sounding.

Also, the vocals on This A Must sound more clear and don't sound like they were run through a dumpster anymore.

I Can't Wait now has Lauryn Hill featured on it and I will never be listening to the original ever again after that. This version is superior in every single way.

Also while I'm at it, let's address the elephant... Andre Troutman. Seriously, his talk box vocals on All The Love and White Lines are insane. Specifically on White Lines though is where he showcases it best.

White Lines is actually a cover song of a cover song... crazy I know. Basically Kanye covered Stevie Wonder's cover of Close To You which has become so iconic at this point. As a Stevie Wonder fan of more than ten years now (yes, I was a fan before Isn't She Lovely was in the TADC movie, get on my level), this made me smile honestly.

Andre Troutman has honestly inspired me to use a talk box some day, if I can ever get the money for it that is. It can be used for so many beautiful things, and I'd love to use it for another musical project of mine... not the one I announced, but rather a different one I'm also working on.

The other elephant... arguably the best song on the record, Highs And Lows. This might be my favorite Kanye song. In less than two minutes, Kanye delivers one of his most emotional and cinematic tracks ever. Damn... this song genuinely made me cry, it's so beautiful.

The two new tracks are great. I certainly prefer OK over Mission Control though. And while I'm at it with hot takes. White Lines > All The Love.

As a whole, BULLY went from a 7.5/10 or 8/10 to a 9.9/10 with just a few simple changes.

Top five tracks:

1. Highs And Lows

2. White Lines

3. King

4 (multi-way tie). This One Here, I Can't Wait, Whatever Works, Sisters And Brothers, Father

5. Beauty And The Beast

HM. Preacher Man

Best features: Lauryn Hill on I Can't Wait, CeeLo Green on Bully, Andre Troutman on White Lines specifically, Travis Scott on Father, Don Toliver on OK

Worst feature: Nine Vicious on Mama's Favorite

Bottom three songs (1 being the best, 3 being the worst)

1. Mission Control (10/10)

2. Circles (8.5-9/10)

3. Last Breath (0.5/10, maybe a 2/10 because I'm generous today)

Final rating: 9.9/10

This album is a masterpiece honestly, go listen to this if ya haven't. Specifically this version.