Vultures 1 | ||||
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Studio album by ¥$ | ||||
Released | February 10, 2024 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 55:33 | |||
Label | YZY | |||
Producer |
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Kanye West chronology | ||||
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Ty Dolla Sign chronology | ||||
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Alternate cover | ||||
Singles from Vultures 1 | ||||
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Vultures 1 is the debut studio album by the American hip hop superduo ¥$, composed of the rapper Kanye West and the singer Ty Dolla Sign. It was released independently through West's YZY brand on February 10, 2024. The album features guest vocals from West's daughter North, Freddie Gibbs, YG, Quavo, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Bump J, Lil Durk, Rich the Kid, and Chris Brown. Production was primarily handled by West himself, alongside JPEGMafia, Timbaland, 88-Keys, No I.D., Digital Nas, Wheezy, Chrishan, Ojivolta, and Anthony Kilhoffer, among others. It serves as a follow-up to both artists' 2021 studio albums—Donda and Cheers to the Best Memories—as well as their first independent albums.
Vultures 1 sustained multiple delays and changes to its tracklist prior to its final release; it was first teased throughout late 2023 under the placeholder title ¥$. Several listening events to promote the album, including a multi-stadium listening event and a concert in Reggio Emilia, were canceled. "Vultures", which features uncredited guest vocals from Bump J and Lil Durk, was released on November 22 and served as its lead single. West previewed Vultures 1 at a minor event in a restaurant in Wynwood, Florida on December 8, and held the first in a set of listening events titled "Vultures Rave" four days later, which featured artists of whom were intended to appear on the album. Listening parties in Chicago and New York City on February 8 and February 9, 2024, respectively, bookended the release of the second single, "Talking / Once Again", which features uncredited guest vocals from North West. The album was released on February 10, commemorative of the twentieth anniversary of West's debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004). It is set to be followed up by Vultures 2 and Vultures 3, which are slated for release on March 8 and April 5, respectively. On February 15, 2024, FUGA started to remove the album from streaming and download services, because it had been published using their platform's automated processes after they had explicitly declined to publish it.
In contrast to West's previous two albums, it finds him mostly foregoing religious themes. The album was released in the wake of West's antisemitic comments in late 2022, and it received mixed reviews from music critics, with many criticizing the album's unoriginality and lyrics addressing West's rhetoric. However, some complimented its production quality and Ty Dolla Sign's contributions. Some also praised particular songs such as "Burn" or "Carnival", while not expressing a high opinion about the album as a whole.
On August 25, 2023, NBC News reported from two sources that West had been working on music throughout the summer and planned to release an album, revealing "new music is imminent".[1] West held a private listening event for the album in Italy on October 1, attended by Ty Dolla Sign and it was rumored they had collaborated at the time.[2] During that same month, West and Ty Dolla Sign were spotted in recording studios in Italy, alongside other artists. A joint concert at RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, Italy was reportedly planned for October 20, 2023, but was delayed by a week and then canceled.[3][4]
In an Instagram post on October 23, 2023, Ty confirmed the album's existence. The post contained a black background with white text that displayed "¥$", their duo name and the symbol next to the dollar represents the Japanese Yen.[5][6][7] During a performance in early November 2023, Ty Dolla Sign stated that he had just flown in from Saudi Arabia, where he was working with West on their upcoming collaborative studio album and said it would be "coming real soon".[8] Videos of the two recording with American rapper Lil Baby also surfaced online.[9] Images were released of West working on music at a desert studio in the Arabic oasis city al-Ula, appearing in a sparse setting surrounded by chairs and tents.[10][11] British record producer Fred Again played snippets of a song by West and Ty Dolla Sign at a club, rumored to be from their collaborative project.[12]
On December 13, 2023, media outlets reported that the Backstreet Boys interpolation in "Everybody" wasn't authorized by the band.[13] The following day, West sent a text message to fellow rapper Nicki Minaj asking her for permission to include "New Body" on the album; during an Instagram Live stream. She denied West's request, saying: "Why would I put out a song that's been out for three years?"[14] In response to Nicki Minaj's statements, West said: "I made that girl rewrite her verse three times for 'Monster'. I supported her career. So I don't know what it is."[15]
On December 29, "Everybody" was rumored to be released on streaming services. However, it was not released and DJ Pharris previewed another track, "Unlock", on the Power 92 radio station instead.[16] On January 2, West's longtime collaborator, Malik Yusef, posted a picture of Ty in the studio, claiming that he was rerecording all of his verses as well as recording new ones.[17] On February 12 2024, after the album had been released, West declared to TMZ that he was two months from bankruptcy before his relocation to Italy, providing his maximum effort. West explained he "moved to the factories" and managed to survive cancellation, commenting that he was less concerned with being controversial rather than "the ability to say how you felt out loud" due to his perceived skillset he felt helped him survive.[18]
Vultures 1 is a hip hop album that encompasses house, R&B, and trap,[19] incorporating elements of gospel and industrial music.[20][21][22] The album was described as more cohesive than West's recent records.[19][22][21][23] Steven J. Horowitz of Variety surmised the musicality as a collection "of sharp aural moments that twists and shifts at each turn", observing that the different producers provide variety and scope.[24] Pitchfork's Paul A. Thompson described the beats as "rhythmically complex", with a lack of any heavy influences.[21] According to The Guardian journalist Alexis Petridis, Vultures 1 features a variety of styles, although he thought it is still uneven.[25]
On October 13, 2023, Billboard reported that West and Ty Dolla Sign were planning to release a collaborative album and were shopping it to five different record labels for distribution.[26][27] The labels had been distancing themselves from West due to his widely publicized antisemitic comments in late 2022.[27] The album had seemingly been delayed because Universal Music Group, the parent company of Def Jam Recordings, West's previous label, stated that they were no longer working with him whatsoever.[28]
Ty Dolla Sign posted a handwritten tracklist for the project to his Instagram account on December 8, 2023.[29][30] Later that night, West previewed the opening track, "Everybody", which included a sample from the Backstreet Boys song "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".[31] Later on December 10, West played songs from the album at a restaurant in Wynwood, Florida, revealing guest contributions from American singer Chris Brown and American rappers Future and Young Thug.[32] At the preview, West revealed the title as Vultures and said it would be released on December 15.[33] On December 12, 2023, Vultures was made available to pre-save on streaming services, although the pre-save link disappeared a few days later.[34][35] On December 14, MDLBeast SoundStorm posted a late announcement on their Instagram account that West would be playing at their festival in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh and referenced the album.[36] West did not perform at the festival, although he was photographed with fellow rapper Will Smith after he played there.[37] On December 21, 2023, representatives for West confirmed to Billboard that the release of Vultures had been further delayed to January 12, 2024.[38][39]
On November 17, 2023, DJ Pharris previewed "Vultures", featuring uncredited guest vocals from rappers Bump J and Lil Durk, on his radio show WPWX Power 92 Chicago. Five days later, the song was released as the lead single from Vultures 1.[40] On February 7, 2024, "Talking / Once Again", which features uncredited guest vocals from Kanye's daughter North West, premiered via Instagram and YouTube. The song's music video features North getting braids in her hair to match with Kanye's black threads and Ty Dolla Sign gazing at his own daughter, who rests her head on his shoulder in the ending scene.[41] The song was later released as the second single from the album on February 9, 2024.[42] On the same day as its premiere, an alternate version of "Vultures" with production from Havoc of Mobb Deep was released as a promotional single for Vultures 1, along with a music video on Instagram that includes footage from the trailer.[43]
On January 11, 2024, one day before the expected release date, Vultures was delayed to January 19.[44] Three days later, footage emerged of West and Ty Dolla Sign filming a music video for the song "Fuk Sumn", alongside rapper Playboi Carti.[45] On January 16, Vultures was again delayed to February 9, 2024.[46] On January 23, West released the trailer for the album via Instagram, announcing it would be the first volume in the Vultures trilogy. Vultures 1 is set to be followed by Vultures 2 and Vultures 3 on March 8 and April 5, 2024, respectively.[47][48][49] On January 30, North was witnessed wearing a Vultures shirt, which included an updated tracklist for the album on its back.[50] On February 6, 2024, West posted a video to Instagram Stories of himself lamenting not being able to secure any venues for a Vultures world tour, alleging this was because of his controversy from late 2022. West highlighted that he had "not been allowed to perform in a year" and compared this to the 2022 film Elvis; he quickly received text messages with offers for venues from many of his collaborators.[51][52] He subsequently posted screenshots of these texts detailing possible cities for the tour, including New York, Toronto, London, Dubai, Lagos, Melbourne, and Tokyo.[51][53] The tour would start in the Summer of 2024 and run into early 2025, with plans to also visit "iconic international venue options" such as the Brazilian mountain Corcovado, the Great Wall of China, and Egypt's Giza pyramid complex.[53]
Vultures 1 had yet to release on its scheduled date, leading Clash's Robin Murray to believe the album had again been delayed.[54] Vultures 1 was released to streaming services independently through West's YZY brand on February 10, 2024.[55][56][57][58] Multiple publications noted that the release coincided with the 20th anniversary of West's debut studio album The College Dropout; The Ringer's Justin Charity opined this is "a sign of how distressingly far" he has come since his first single "Through the Wire" in 2003.[59][60][61] Upon release, it topped the Apple Music albums chart in the United States.[62][63] The album did not initially appear on Spotify, which West alluded to with an Instagram post of a conversation between two collaborators discussing whether this would impact the chart position or if the service was behind for releases.[64][65] Later that same day, it was made available on Spotify and left Apple Music charts after briefly disappearing from the service without any explanation. Vultures 1 was quickly re-released on the platform; West reacted in an interview that he liked the removal from streaming services since it was simplistic and the platforms are "bullshit to artists anyway".[62] West also offered, "We number 1, we number 1 you know. Everything that they did only helped us."[citation needed] He criticized Spotify for allegedly giving $500 million to distribute across all artists then forcing him and other artists to organize it amongst themselves, ranging from Drake to his rival Taylor Swift.[66] The album has also not been made available on YouTube Music.[62]
On February 11, 2024, West reposted a report to Instagram Stories that Vultures 1 had topped digital charts in 72 countries, a list notably including Israel after West's 2022 antisemitic comments and references on the album.[67] That same day, it resulted in West becoming the first-ever independent artist to be the most-streamed act on Spotify and also taking Swift's top position.[66]
On February 15, 2024, distribution platform FUGA released a statement that they are working with their DSP partners to remove Vultures 1 from streaming services, after the label delivered its release. The statement revealed that the company were offered the release in late 2023 and declined, noting that the final release was delivered by a "long-standing FUGA client" through the company's automated processes and in violation of their service agreement. FUGA also confirmed the client is collaborating with them on the removal.[68][69] The album has since been removed from the iTunes store and Apple Music.[70]
On February 9, 2024, Ozzy Osbourne posted on Instagram that West was refused permission to sample a 1983 Black Sabbath live performance of the song "Iron Man", but that he had done so anyway on "Carnival". While a leaked version of the track used the sample, the version played at the Chicago listening event did not.[71] West later removed the sample from the song, and was instead replaced by his own track "Hell of a Life", which itself samples "Iron Man".[72]
Following the release of Vultures 1, Donna Summer's estate posted an Instagram story stating that they had not authorized the use of "I Feel Love" for the track "Good (Don't Die)". They alleged that "he changed the words, had someone re-sing it or used AI" but that it still constituted "copyright infringement".[73] The song was removed from Spotify on February 14, 2024, although it remains available on other streaming services like Apple Music.[74]
On October 23, 2023, Ty Dolla Sign announced a "multi stadium listening event" to be held on November 3 in promotion of Vultures 1, similar to listening parties West hosted during the release of his tenth studio album Donda (2021).[5][75][76] Leading up to the events, the duo were spotted in Riyadh, creating speculation amongst fans that they would take place there.[12] The events were canceled, with the plans to release the album that night being scrapped.[77][78] Some fans were disappointed as they likened the repeated delays and cancellations to Yandhi, an album by West slated for release in 2018. The album was then delayed a year, and eventually released and drastically overhauled under the name of Jesus Is King; West also notably delayed the release of Donda by a year.[78][79]
On December 10, 2023, Ty Dolla Sign announced a listening event entitled Vultures Rave to be held in Sunrise, Florida, the following day. Simultaneously, fellow rapper Playboi Carti revealed that West had invited him to perform at the Vultures Rave.[80] At the event, Kanye West played 10 tracks from Vultures 1, along with guests Chris Brown, Offset, Kodak Black, Lil Durk, Bump J, Freddie Gibbs, and North.[81] Technical difficulties prevented them from previewing more songs from the album.[82] West faced criticism for wearing a black hooded outfit at the Vultures Rave, with several commentators noting its similarity to traditional Ku Klux Klan uniforms. He had previously evoked Ku Klux Klan imagery for his single "Black Skinhead" in 2013,[83][82] though Trace William Cowen of Complex noted that context of the imagery has since changed because of West's 2022 praise for Nazi-dictator Adolf Hitler.[84] Carlos de Loera of the Los Angeles Times opined that West's outfit served to amplify his antisemitic remarks and other inflammatory beliefs.[85] On December 15, 2023, XXL reported that an additional listening event would be held in Saudi Arabia and that Vultures 1 was set for release on December 31.[86]
On February 5, 2024, West and Ty Dolla Sign announced the album's first listening event at Chicago's United Center via separate posts for February 8. The venue's website noted that the event "marks a historic moment" of attendees listening to Vultures 1 with the contributing artists before its release, further observing the significance of West selecting his hometown.[87] The website also offered that the event would be iconic for music, bringing together various collaborators with the fans to celebrate "creativity and innovation".[87] Tickets for the event sold out on the day of the announcement and the live stream was held through the streaming platform Veeps, which charged $19.99 per viewer,[88][89] and apps such as Apple TV and Samsung TV Plus.[90] The show started at around 10 p.m. CST, one hour later than the planned time of 9 p.m. after the door times were moved forward to this time from 7:30 p.m. due to what a venue doorperson dubbed a "production delay".[91][92] West and Ty Dolla Sign wore outfits matching the music video for "Vultures"; the rapper's outfit consisted of a black leather bomber jacket with the number one on the back, leather pants, and a white hockey mask. For Ty Dolla Sign's outfit, he wore a loose, long black trench coat with a balaclava and a black half-ski mask. Guests who performed with the collaborators included North, YG, Bump J, and Freddie Gibbs. The crowd particularly reacted enthusiastically to North's appearance, while Chance the Rapper was in attendance at the event.[91][92][93][94] The stage was covered with smoke and rose from an open space, surrounded by white flags with the Vultures logo.[91][92][93] During the performances, West and Ty Dolla Sign mostly lip synced and danced to the tracks.[93] The live stream was cut off abruptly after West rapped a line with "antisemite", although it soon resumed.[95] At the live stream's end, it cut to black and featured a chat box containing messages like "Yefund".[89]
On February 7, 2024, West posted to Instagram that a second listening event would be held at UBS Arena in New York's Belmont Park, coinciding with the release date. The event offered "a high-fidelity audio and visual showcase".[88][96] Shortly after doors had opened at 8 p.m., fans let out chants such as "We Want Yeezy" and "Kanye".[97] The show was supposed to start at 9 p.m., yet it began around two hours late at 11 p.m.[95][97] The arena was clouded by smog, resulting in low visibility of the square stage.[95][98] West and Ty Dolla Sign wore their face coverings throughout as they walked around the stage during the show, which lasted for 45 minutes.[20][97][98] Playboi Carti, Roddy Ricch, and Rich the Kid made appearances; North did not perform as she did at the previous event, although her feature was well received by the crowd.[95][97]
The originally announced cover art for Vultures 1 consisted of a remaking of German artist Caspar David Friedrich's 1835 painting Landscape with Graves, which shows a bleak island horizon photo along with a bird atop a shovel in a graveyard. A large black border is added around the picture, with "VULTURES" at the top in all-caps. This cover was revealed on December 11, 2023 when Playboi Carti posted an iMessage exchange between him and West where he was sent that version.[101][102]
The second iteration of the cover art, consisting of the Landscape With Graves painting without a black border, and with "VULTURES" superimposed on the painting in all-caps in the upper left corner and the subtitle "Volume 1" in the lower right corner displayed in black Gregorian font, was revealed on December 12, 2023, by Ty in an Instagram post.[103]
Writing for HipHopDX, Sam Moore described the Friedrich cover art as being "linked to Nazism", noting Friedrich's status as a favorite artist of Adolf Hitler. Moore further found that the cover's typography was reminiscent of that used by Burzum, a black metal project founded by neo-Nazi[104] Varg Vikernes; the band was previously sampled on West and Gucci Mane's "Pussy Print" in 2016.[99] The Burzum comparison and Hitler's adoration of Friedrich were also reported on by The Guardian and The Independent.[100][105] West was later photographed wearing a Burzum shirt in a tweet with collaborator JPEGMafia.[106] Vikernes responded by praising West for having the courage to wear his project's shirt in public.[107] As of February 11, 2024, Vultures-branded merchandise featuring the Friedrich cover art remains offered for sale on the Yeezy.com website.[58] Also offered on the site is clothing showing a coat of arms style emblem with "VULTURES" written across the top and a double-headed Reichsadler eagle on the shield area below.[58]
When the album was released on February 10 on Apple Music, it had a new album cover, which depicted West wearing an all-black outfit with a hockey mask, first a white mask but then changed to all-black, standing next to his romantic partner, Bianca Censori, who has her back to the camera and is mostly nude above her thighs and wearing black stockings and high heels.[108] Some Twitter users noted that while West and his wife were featured on the cover, Ty was absent.[108] The white hockey mask, which was also featured at the listening parties, was widely considered a reference to Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th film franchise.[91][92][109]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 52/100[110] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Evening Standard | [111] |
Financial Times | [112] |
The Guardian | [25] |
HipHopDX | 3/5[113] |
NME | [19] |
The Times | [114] |
Rolling Stone | [A] |
Pitchfork | 5.8/10[21] |
Vultures 1 was met with mixed reviews from music critics.[116] According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Vultures 1 received "mixed or average reviews" based on a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 from five critic scores.[110]
In a review for The Times, Will Hodgkinson called Vultures 1 "a charmless disaster". He panned the lyrics, describing them as "the most tired hip-hop clichés", and the production, which he considered unoriginal in comparison to West's previous work. He also criticized the way that West addressed controversies leading up to the album, especially his antisemitic comments. Nonetheless, Hodgkinson found that "Vultures is not all bad" and cited "Stars", "Keys to My Life", "Talking", and "Good (Don't Die)" as highlights.[114] Petridis of The Guardian opined that the album was an improvement on Donda, but said that West's verses were "profoundly depressing" and criticized his inclination to controversy on the basis that he "thinks he can get away with it".[25]
Complex head of music Eric Skelton wrote that, 20 years into his recording career, West was "still an excellent producer and curator". He considered Ty Dolla Sign the right collaborator for the project and praised the combination of his vocals with West's production. He cited "Burn" as a highlight, feeling that it "sounds like it could have been a long-lost track from [The College Dropout or Late Registration]". Nonetheless, his opinion about the lyrics was more mixed, saying West is "still a defiant troll who can't help but reach for cringey jokes and clunky one-liners that detract from otherwise strong performances"; he summarized that "the controversies are addressed in a very Kanye way".[60]
Rolling Stone reviewer Jayson Buford characterized Vultures 1 as "a serviceable record" and said the production still shows West's ability despite being sparse, though felt he makes Ty Dolla Sign "sound as bubbly as he's been" since the presidency of Barack Obama. Buford also observed that West may not be moving culture forward anymore, yet the gospel usage "is still as prevalent as ever, and so is the way it interacts with the album's secular content" by the heavy presence of secular culture as the rapper wishes to live "in a more conservative world".[22] Michael Saponara, who ranked the album's songs for Billboard, commented on the album's release, saying "Most people would call Vultures 1 a comeback album for Kanye – his first without the backing of Universal Music Group or Def Jam – but nearly all of his projects are fueled by some form of plight he's fighting against."[61] Saponara drew praise to certain aspects of the production and performances of Ty Dolla Sign, while he praised "Carnival" as his favorite song on the album, calling it "the perfect example of why people put up with all of the controversies, album delays and madness that come with being a Ye fan because nobody in rap creates generational moments like this".[61]
Rhian Daly of NME wrote that "West shows glimmers of greatness but also makes it hard to enjoy those moments for too long", and characterized the album's mixing as poor and its lyrics as misogynistic, while praising "Burn" and highlighting "Talking" as a "striking moment" in the album.[19] Wren Graves of Consequence found the album to be unoriginal, and dismissed its lyrics as mostly "broad griping and trollery", calling it "repetitive, redundant, and far too impressed with itself to be enjoyed by anyone but true believers".[117] Chris Richards of The Washington Post opined that Vultures 1 is "probably his most cogent effort in years, which actually means very little considering his past three outings – Ye, Jesus Is King and Donda – seemed to fall apart as you listened to them", criticizing the album's unoriginality and lyrical content.[23]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stars" |
| 1:55 | |
2. | "Keys to My Life" |
|
| 2:54 |
3. | "Paid" | 3:15 | ||
4. | "Talking" |
|
| 3:05 |
5. | "Back to Me" |
| 4:55 | |
6. | "Hoodrat" |
|
| 3:42 |
7. | "Do It" |
| 3:45 | |
8. | "Paperwork" |
|
| 2:25 |
9. | "Burn" |
|
| 1:51 |
10. | "Fuk Sumn" |
|
| 3:29 |
11. | "Vultures" |
|
| 4:36 |
12. | "Carnival" |
|
| 4:24 |
13. | "Beg Forgiveness" |
|
| 6:08 |
14. | "Good (Don't Die)" |
|
| 3:19 |
15. | "Problematic" |
|
| 3:14 |
16. | "King" |
|
| 2:36 |
Total length: | 55:33 |
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japanese Digital Albums (Oricon)[121] | 20 |
Presented content of the Wikipedia article was extracted in 2024-02-15 based on https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=75521301