Five classic songs Kanye West sampled on his ‘Bully’ album
Kanye West surprise-released his new album, Bully, on March 18th. Instead of putting the record on streaming platforms, he shared the music through a short film on Adobe’s Frame.io, directed by Hype Williams and starring his nine-year-old son, Saint.
The follow-up to 2021’s Donda is rich with samples, which is something people have come to love from Ye. As he rapped on ‘I Love Kanye’ from 2016’s The Life of Pablo, “I miss the old Kanye, straight from the Go Kanye/ Chop up the soul Kanye.”
Well, he’s delivered just that while combining elements of fan-loved albums like 2008’s 808s & Heartbreak and 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The project is also free of all the antisemitic and misogynistic language Ye has been spouting on social media recently.
Throughout the album, Kanye samples music from the 1960s and ’70s, ranging from The Supremes to The Carpenters. Despite claiming the album is “not finished and half the vocals AI,” there’s still plenty of material to unpack.
Below, check out five classic songs Kanye sampled on his Bully album.
The Mad Lads – ‘Don’t Have to Shop Around’
The song known as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ samples The Mad Lads’ ‘Don’t Have to Shop Around’. The record appeared on the Memphis group’s 1966 album, In Action, and was previously used in J Dilla’s ‘Ahmad Impresses Me‘ in 1996 and Black Moon’s ‘High Times’ in 2002.
Over the soulful vocals, Kanye raps, “Think about it every night and day/ To try to stay away, to keep my heart in here tucked/ Don’t take this as disrespect, I’m sitting here trying to redirect them.”
The Supremes – ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’
One of the album’s most notable samples is The Supremes’ ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966, and the melody is clear throughout the second track on Bully. Ye samples the chorus’ memorable vocals, “You can’t hurry love/ No, you just have to wait/ She said, ‘Love don’t come easy’/ It’s a game of give and take.”
On ‘Can’t Hurry Love’, Ye sings, “We in another time we was designed for/ I got to rearrange it, move my mind forward/ Oh, move my mind forward.”
The Carpenters – ‘(They Long To Be) Close to You’
Kanye samples The Carpenters’ ‘(They Long To Be) Close to You’ on another song, known as ‘Close to You’. Not only does it include the famous 1970 lyrics, ‘Why do birds suddenly appear/ Every time that you are near /Just like me, they long to be/ Close to you,” with audio effects, but he also sings his words in the same melody.
On the track, he says, “Sometimеs, I just don’t wanna feel/ Attitudes, that appears/ Why I’m still, yeah, I’m still/ Closе to you, close to you.”
The Moments – ‘To You with Love’
The opening track on Bully, known as ‘Preacher Man’, samples the 1971 song ‘To You with Love’ by The Moments. Ye loops the vocals, “This ring that I hold/ I give to you (to you with love)/ I walk up to the preacher man,” throughout the record. The original track was previously sampled by J Dilla on ‘Last Donut of the Night’ from 2006’s Donuts album and Madlib on ‘Life’ in 2008.
Kanye brags about his superstar status on the track, rapping in the hook, “Light ’em up, beam me up/ The only G.O.A.T, the genius one/ They switchin’ sides, I seen it comin’/ The plot twist, a convenient one.”
Cortex – ‘Huit Octobre 1971’
Hip-hop fans will be well aware of Cortex’s ‘Huit Octobre 1971’ through MF DOOM, who sampled the song for ‘One Beer’ off 2004’s Mm..Food album. Kanye has also added himself to the sample’s history by making the record a key element of ‘Circles’, in which he chops up his vocals and sings, “Oh, Lord, I can’t miss this/ Oh, Lord, I got issues/ Oh, Lord, I don’t need shit/ Oh, Lord, hitting this one.”
Tyler, The Creator sampled the song for ‘Odd Toddlers’ off his Bastard album in 2009, with Wiz Khalifa also including it on ‘Visions’ off his Kush and Orange Juice project in 2010.