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Kanye West has been called out by Maxo Kream for allegedly biting his Maxo 187 cover art with the artwork for his new album Bully.
Shortly after Ye unveiled the artwork, the Houston rapper took to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday (October 24) to share side-by-side photos of the two covers, writing: “Damn Ye [face with monocle emoji] [faced with raise eybrow emoji] Ifykyk.”
In a follow-up video posted on his Instagram Stories, the former Crip clarified his comments while showing off his massive shoe collection, which included a number of Nike Yeezys.
“And for the record, Kanye, let me say that I am flattered that you were inspired by my cover because I’m inspired by you, too,” he said. “I fuck with all your Nike shit — not really your Adidas shit.
“You fuck with Don C, too. I fuck with Don C,” he added, referencing the longtime Ye associate. “I did a collab with him for my brand Persona. I do this shit, too. Fuck with me.”
Ye, who is noticebly quieter on social media these days, has yet to respond.
The Bully album cover, which was shot by famed Japanese photographer Daidō Moriyama and is a black-and-white close-up of somebody flashing their grills for the camera, has also drawn comparisons to Azealia Banks’ “212” music video, as well as Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss artwork.
There’s speculation that the person featured on the cover is Kanye West’s son Saint, who he famously referred to as “Baby Ye” on 2016’s “Saint Pablo,” although that has yet to be confirmed.
The artwork reveal came just a few weeks after Ye first announced the album during a show in China.
While performing at Wuyuanhe Stadium in Haikou alongside Vultures collaborator Ty Dolla $ign, the Chicago rap legend revealed that Bully would be his next release.
He also premiered an unreleased song called “Beauty and the Beast,” a high-quality snippet of which he has since shared on social media.
Journalist Touré recently shared some insight into the project, claiming that Yeezy is making the album by himself in a hotel room in Tokyo, where he is reportedly living.
“It’s a concept album and he plans to be the only producer on it,” he said in an Instagram video. “Traditionally, Kanye is the product of a team, there are producers helping him, there are writers helping him, he comes with the big ideas but there’s others in.
“Not this time. This time, Kanye is gonna make this pretty much by himself. A fresh chapter in his life because in Tokyo he can be who he wants to be.”
He added: “This album is 100% him. They meant it’s pretty much made by Kanye alone. He’s producing everything 100% himself. This will be 100% Kanye West, which it hasn’t been in many, many years.”
Bully will serve as West’s third album of 2023 following his two Vultures LP with Ty Dolla $ign and first solo effort since 2020’s Donda
Physical copies of the album are currently available to pre-order on Yeezy.com, although a release date is unclear. It also remains to be seen whether the project will be made available on streaming services, given Kanye’s previous plans to subvert them.
