He did it again. Honestly, just when you think Kanye West—or Ye, if we’re being official—can’t possibly find a new way to set the internet on fire, he manages to drop something that makes his previous outbursts look like a quiet Sunday afternoon at church.
If you’ve been hanging around the darker corners of music Twitter or Reddit lately, you’ve probably seen the letters "HH" floating around. It's not a typo. It's not a secret code for a new sneaker drop. It refers to a moment in 2025 that almost ended the career of the man who once claimed to be a god.
We’re talking about the track originally titled "Heil Hitler."
Yeah. He actually went there.
The Song That Blacklisted a Legend
Let’s get the facts straight because the timeline is a total mess. In May 2025, during the lead-up to his long-delayed album In a Perfect World, Ye dropped a song on X (formerly Twitter) that featured a synth-heavy, almost cinematic beat. But the lyrics? They were a nightmare. The hook featured Ye and his group, the Hooligans, chanting a phrase that used the Nazi salute.
The backlash wasn't just "cancel culture" doing its thing. It was a total institutional lockout.
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Venues in London, Paris, and Milan blacklisted him immediately. Australia literally revoked his travel visa. This wasn't just people being offended; it was a billionaire (well, former billionaire) watching his remaining empire crumble in real-time. For a guy who lives for the spotlight, being told he couldn't even book a stadium in Bratislava without a petition reaching 20,000 signatures had to sting.
Why Does "HH" Still Matter in 2026?
You might be wondering why we're still talking about this. Well, as of early 2026, the "HH" saga has taken a weird, very Kanye-esque turn. After the song was scrubbed from the internet—and after his team started slapping copyright strikes on any fan who re-uploaded it—Ye did a complete 180.
He met with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto. He apologized. He blamed the whole thing on a bipolar episode and the stress of his ongoing custody battles.
Then came the pivot. He took the "HH" track, stripped out the Nazi samples, and rebranded it as "Hallelujah."
It’s the same beat, but now it’s about Jesus.
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That is the Ye cycle in a nutshell. Create a crisis, lose a few hundred million dollars, apologize, and then try to sell the "redemption" version for 20 bucks on Yeezy.com. Speaking of money, the financial fallout has been brutal. Forbes and Bloomberg have his net worth pegged at around $400 million now. That sounds like a lot to us, but for a guy who was worth nearly $2 billion a few years ago, it’s a massive "L."
What’s Actually Happening with Bully?
The big question for 2026 is the new album, Bully.
If you're looking for a release date, the current "official" word is January 30, 2026. But come on, this is Kanye. Dates are basically suggestions to him.
The interesting part? This record is reportedly a solo effort. Like, actually solo. He’s been living in a hotel in Tokyo, working on it without his usual army of producers. Word is he’s ditched the AI vocals he was obsessed with last year and is going back to a more stripped-down, soul-sampling sound.
Tracks like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Preacher Man" have leaked or been previewed, and honestly? They sound better than anything on Vultures. They feel human. There’s a vulnerability there that’s been missing for a long time.
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The Yeezy Empire in 2026
Business-wise, the Adidas deal is dead and buried. He’s been trying to go independent, which means selling $20 shirts and "Pods" directly to fans. It’s a scrappy way to run a business for a former fashion icon, but he claims he made $40 million off the "HH-01" merch alone.
Whether those numbers are real is anyone’s guess.
He’s still got a 5% stake in Skims, which is basically his financial life raft at this point. Without that Kim Kardashian connection, his bank account would look a whole lot different.
The Reality Check
Look, loving Kanye West in 2026 is an Olympic sport in mental gymnastics. You’ve got the musical genius on one side and the guy who released a song called "HH" on the other.
His influence is still there—you can’t walk through Soho without seeing ten kids dressed like him—but the "invincibility" is gone. He’s no longer the guy who can say anything and stay on top. He’s a 48-year-old man trying to find a way back into a room that has largely locked its doors.
Next Steps for Fans and Observers:
- Check the Tracklists: If you're looking for the music, keep an eye out for "Hallelujah" or "Hit Symphony." These are the sanitized, current versions of the "HH" project that are actually safe to play in public.
- Monitor YEEZY.com: Don't buy from resellers yet. He’s been dropping "Bully" merch and vinyl pre-orders directly on his site for way less than the secondary market prices.
- Verify the Date: Since January 30 is the "target" for Bully, wait until the day of to see if it actually hits streaming. History suggests a 50/50 chance of another delay.
- Context Matters: When discussing his 2025/2026 output, remember that many of the most controversial leaks were later disowned by the artist himself during his apology tour. Use the updated versions to get a sense of where he's actually going artistically.