Every Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) album release cycle is pure chaos. He’s easily one of the most polarizing people on the planet, and at the same time, one of the most influential musicians of his generation. That overlap makes for a whirlwind of headlines every time he steps back outside to let the world know he’s about to drop something, and the last week has been no different. Yeezy season is on its way again.
Possibly.
While the release date for his upcoming album, BULLY, has been pushed back to December, Ye’s motion in other avenues has been ramping up. After a lengthy and direct apology (by way of a sitdown with a Rabbi), and shoutouts from some of the biggest artists in the game right now, performance rumors began popping up worldwide—indicating that something might be brewing.
We get you updated on all of the latest Ye news and rumors below.
Playboi Carti and Travis Scott Show Ye Love
While all of the recent Ye activity can seem like it came out of nowhere, some attentive fans (and Yeezy stans) had an inkling that something was going on. In the final weeks of October, both Playboi Carti and Travis Scott—currently on tour—gave the 24-time Grammy winner major shoutouts and credited him for shaping their careers. At an October 21 show, La Flame paused mid-set to speak on his mentor:
This doesn’t come as a total surprise. Aside from being a mentor and “brother” to the Houston artist, Ye and Travis have more than a dozen collaborative efforts:
- Travis worked on Yeezus as co-producer, contributing to songs like “Guilt Trip” and “New Slaves”
- Ye was featured on Trav’s debut album Rodeo, on the track “Piss On Your Grave”
- “Skeletons,” from ASTROWORLD, was originally a Ye song
- Various songs from Travis’ Utopia album were Ye tracks at one point or another, including “God’s Country” and “Telekinesis”
The two most recently collaborated on 2024’s Vultures album by Ye and Ty Dolla $ign.
A few weeks later, on October 30, Playboi Carti gave Ye a shoutout of his own. During his Chicago show—Ye’s hometown—Carti paused to say:
Carti and Ye have collaborated a handful of times, most notably on their 2024 hit “CARNIVAL,” which went #1 on Billboard. They also had a rumored collab album called CartiYe, but it never saw the light of day. All things considered, the odds of both Trav and Carti shouting out Ye in the same week was enough to make some ears perk up.
Ye Apologizes and Announces New Concerts
Things really started to fall into place in the first week of November. With BULLY’s tentative release date (November 7) quickly approaching, Ye fans were getting antsy as they always do. They know no release date is safe—just look at the Donda drop. And back to the Life Of Pablo drops. And the Vultures releases. Anyway, fans had every right to be skeptical.
But the moment Ye’s return started to feel real was when he took one of the signature steps in his rollout playbook: The Apology. As his remarks over the years have been aimed at the Jewish community, he sat down with a Rabbi to explain his situation and apologize for his actions.
With his promises of changed behavior and a new approach, some venues that had turned away from hosting Ye’s shows were more willing to give him a second chance. Among those was Rubicon festival—a rap festival in Slovakia, that was meant to take place in July 2025 but was cancelled due to “external pressure and logistical challenges”—which now seems to be coming back with Ye as a performer.
Additionally, Ye is slated to perform at a concert in São Paolo, Brazil, on November 29. However, they have specific rules that Yeezy must follow or face severe consequences.
And a concert planned for Mexico in January 2026? Almost entirely sold out within 24 hours of being announced.
Ye Performs at Travis Scott’s Tokyo Show
With worldwide shows and festivals coming up, Ye definitely has to be on his best behavior in the eyes of the cities and venues he’s visiting. On November 7, some Yeezy stan accounts noticed that he was spotted in Japan, just days after the apology took place. Coincidentally, Travis Scott’s next tour stop was in Japan as well—fresh off his shoutout to Ye and saying “we might have to do something special.” And it’s safe to say they did.
Ye had absolutely no problems in his latest live performance—a surprise appearance at Travis Scott’s CIRCUS MAXIMUS Tour in Tokyo, Japan. He performed some of his biggest hits, like “Through The Wire” and “Runaway,” while fans recited the lyrics word for word.
The Travis x Ye show did unprecedented numbers, becoming the biggest sold-out hip-hop show in Japan’s history. While that could have been the case prior to Ye’s involvement, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other venues welcome him after seeing those kinds of stats with his name attached.
Updates on Ye’s ‘BULLY’ Album
The biggest question that remains is: “When will BULLY drop?” Many Ye fans know it’s possible it may never drop at all (R.I.P. Yandhi). The album was announced back in September 2024, with a release date aimed for June 15, 2025—dedicated to his daughter North West’s birthday.
Between that time, he released multiple “early versions” of the project. On March 18, 2025, Ye dropped Bully V1 in video form via the website Frame.io. The short film starred his son Saint, fighting off professional wrestlers with a toy hammer. While it was obviously thought-out enough to have video accompaniment, this iteration of the album was unfinished, filled with AI (which he grew to hate), and not intended for streaming services. He promised that the full release wouldn’t use AI, he would re-record those segments with his own voice, and it would still drop on June 15.
As you can imagine, that didn’t happen, as we clearly aren’t bumping the full version of Bully just yet.
June rolled around, and he released 5 tracks from the project onto streaming services: “Preacher Man,” “Beauty and The Beast,” “Damn,” “Last Breath,” and “Losing Your Mind,” to serve as an EP leading up to the 13-track full release (which was now delayed to September 26, 2025). September came, and it was once again pushed, this time to November 7.
And, as of writing this, BULLY has been delayed to December 12, 2025. Just like every Ye album since 2012, the rollout has been unpredictable and uncertain. But we’ll keep you informed on BULLY updates, and see what else Ye has in store.
