James Blake Wants His Name Removed From Kanye West's 'Bully'

James Blake doesn't want anything to do with Kanye West's latest album. The British producer and singer has made it clear he wants his name removed from 'Bully,' Ye's newest project — a move that signals yet another collaborator stepping back from the controversial artist's orbit.

The request is notable given the history between the two. Blake has contributed to several Ye projects over the years, lending his atmospheric production and vocal textures to tracks across multiple albums. Their creative relationship once seemed like a natural fit — Blake's experimental sensibilities paired with Ye's boundary-pushing approach to hip-hop. That partnership now appears to have hit a wall.

Blake's decision to publicly distance himself from 'Bully' lands at a moment when the list of artists and producers willing to work with Ye continues to shift. Some collaborators have quietly moved on, while others have been more vocal about drawing lines. Blake falls into the latter camp, making his position unambiguous.

The producer has been carving out a distinct lane in recent years, both as a solo artist and as a behind-the-scenes force on records by everyone from Rosalía to Travis Scott. He's spoken openly about the music industry's treatment of producers and songwriters, advocating for greater transparency and credit. Asking for his name to be pulled from a high-profile release is consistent with someone who takes the meaning of his creative associations seriously.

“Losing a collaborator of Blake's caliber — even in a credits dispute — doesn't help the narrative.”

For Ye, the situation adds another wrinkle to an album rollout that has already been anything but smooth. 'Bully' arrives in a landscape where his releases generate as much scrutiny for their behind-the-scenes drama as for the music itself. Losing a collaborator of Blake's caliber — even in a credits dispute — doesn't help the narrative.

What remains unclear is whether Blake's name will actually be scrubbed from the project, or whether the request will get tangled in the kind of contractual gray areas that plague modern streaming-era releases. Credits on digital platforms can be updated, but the process isn't always fast or clean.

Keep an eye on whether other contributors to 'Bully' follow Blake's lead — and whether the album's credits look any different a few weeks from now.