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James Blake has publicly announced that he wishes to withdraw his partial credit from Kanye West’s recent album, “Bully.”
In a recent post on Vault, the 37-year-old Blake expressed, “The way I manipulated his vocals and crafted the track from his freestyle is somewhat present, but it’s largely mixed with newer vocal takes. The essence of my original production is largely missing. My initial version is an entirely different creation in spirit.”
Currently, Blake is listed as a producer on West’s track “This One Here,” which is part of the “Bully” album that was released on Friday, March 27.
“I’m happy for the fans, but I’ve requested to be removed from the producer credits for now because I don’t want to claim credit for work that’s not mine,” Blake explained. “This version isn’t what I made with Ye. It’s nothing personal!”
Kanye West, who also goes by Ye, has openly discussed his struggles with mental health over the years. In 2016, he was hospitalized after unexpectedly canceling a concert. Two years later, with the release of his album “Ye,” West disclosed his diagnosis of bipolar type-1 disorder, famously stating, “I hate being Bi-Polar, it’s awesome,” in the album.
He concluded, “I just hit a point where I don’t want to be credited on music where I can’t affect the end result.”
Blake and West, 48, had been friends and collaborators for many years, though their bond seemingly dissipated by 2023.
“We haven’t seen each other for a little while. I think it’s probably a no-comment from me,” Blake told Variety in October 2023, seemingly reacting to West’s controversial antisemitic remarks. “I say that with sadness.”
West was suspended from Instagram in 2022 after making a series of derogatory and false comments about Jews while simultaneously praising dictator Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He issued a public apology in January, two months before “Bully” was released.
“In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life,” West wrote in an open letter published by the Wall Street Journal, blaming his behavior on his bipolar disorder. “One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments — many of which I still cannot recall — that led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body-experience.”
Kanye West has apologized for his antisemitic behavior, but one group dedicated to combating bigotry isn’t letting the rapper get off that easily. “Ye’s apology to the Jewish people is long overdue and doesn’t automatically undo his long history of antisemitism — the antisemitic ‘Heil Hitler’ song he created, the hundreds of tweets, the swastikas […]
He continued, “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
West further apologized to the Black community, claiming he “let [them] down.”
“My words as a leader in my community have global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that,” he concluded. “As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity.”