We all know Kanye West as one of the most influential artists of all time, but also as an antisemite. Kanye has been on the top of the world since he released his debut album “The College Dropout” which won him multiple Grammys. The evolution of his sound has been insane from “The College Dropout” to “808s & Heartbreak” to “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” to “Yeezus” to “Jesus Is King” to “Donda”. Kanye has also married and had kids with Kim Kardashian and made his clothing line with Adidas, which all helped him become the richest Hip-Hop artist ever. Unfortunately for Kanye, this would all go downhill quickly in 2022, when Kanye tweeted that he was going defcon 3 on Jewish people. After all this controversy Kanye went dark, getting banned on all social media and nobody heard from him for months. When Kanye started appearing in public with his new wife Bianca, he seemed physically larger and looked different which sparked an internet rumor he might have been cloned.
In 2023 rumors of a new Kanye album started to spread. There was a rumor of an album called “Changes” but this proved to be false. After this news another album was rumored called “Yesuke” and people weren’t sure what to believe, but during this time, a snippet of a song called “Back To Me” got leaked and seemed to be the start of a rollout for the new album. Ty Dolla $ign would post a picture of a tattoo that read “¥$” which people thought could be the name of a Kanye and Ty$ collab album, because of the ¥ representing Kanye and $ representing Ty$. On October 22nd, Ty$ would pin a post on X saying “¥$” just like the tattoo picture. This made people believe that it was real. About a month later, a radio station in Chicago would premier a song titled “Vultures” by Kanye and Ty$, also featuring Lil Durk and Bump J. The next day the song officially dropped and the whole rollout seemed to be real. In December, on Kanye’s Apple Music, a pre-save for an album titled “Vultures” showed up. The Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign album was expected to be released on December 15. The album got taken off Apple Music the day before it was set to release and ultimately got delayed several more times. In mid-January when it seemed like the album was never dropping, Kanye posted a picture on his Instagram story stating that there are 3 different volumes for Vultures and each would be released in the next 3 months.
I will be reviewing my top 5 songs from Volume 1 of Vultures including an honorable mention.
Honorable Mention BACK TO ME (feat. Freddie Gibbs): This song was the first song we heard as a snippet dating back to October of 2023. The only flaw in this track is in Kanye’s second verse which 7 times he repeats a line from the 1999 film “Dogma” in which he says “Beautiful big titty butt naked women just don’t fall out the sky you know.” which does bump the song down a few points for me. Besides Kanye repeating this line, the song is pretty great. Ty Dolla $ign has a great chorus and hook, Kanye’s first verse is decent, Freddie Gibbs’ verse is one of the best on the album and the beat is good.
#5 DO IT (feat. YG): This song is started by sampling an unreleased Nipsey Hussle song called “I Just Wanna Know” and after that Ty Dolla $ign brings you right in with the strong hook. Kanye and Ty$ are both great on this song and YG was a good choice to bring in for a feature because his verse is good.
#4 BURN: This song is super good and reminds me a lot of summer. Kanye’s sample on this song is great and his verse is great and sounds a lot like old Kanye. Ty Dolla $ign also has one of his greatest verses on the album, if not the greatest. This song sounds a lot like an old Kanye song from his album Late Registration.
#3 FUK SUMN (feat. Playboi Carti & Travis Scott): This song was one of the first to get leaked on this album and I instantly knew it would be great when I heard the snippet. Originally this song was supposed to feature Quavo instead of Travis Scott alongside Playboi Carti and I would’ve kept Quavo’s verse as it is a lot stronger than Travis’s verse even though it’s a solid verse. One part of the song that’s easy to point out is that Kanye decided to make his first verse extremely high pitched which was an interesting choice even though it has grown on me and other people. This whole song is great though and all 4 of the guys did good.
#2 PAID: This track is definitely the one that has grown on me the most. I would say Ty$ does carry this song with the chorus and a great overall performance, although Kanye’s verse isn’t too bad. I could hear this song, like DO IT being very popular at parties and clubs as it gives that kind of vibe.
#1 CARNIVAL (feat. Playboi Carti & Rich The Kid): This song was first performed on the vultures listening part on the night of February 8th, 2024. This song is the most streamed on the album and debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts. This song is the most popular for a reason. The crowd at the beginning of the song is super cool and is the whole melody throughout the song. Rich The Kid brings you right in with the hook and the chorus which is great for him as we haven’t heard much from him in a while and this song could be his comeback. Ty Dolla $ign comes in strong for the second verse and delivers. After Ty$’s verse, we hear a sample of Kanye West’s “Hell Of A Life” which leads into his verse which is one of his strongest verses in a while. The 4th verse is rapped by Playboi Carti who delivers what is most likely the greatest feature of his career so far and makes us excited to hear what he can give us on his next album. This song is a future classic for sure.
There have been some struggles with controversy preventing it from charting high on the Billboard charts. It has been taken off Apple Music 3 different times which hurts it a lot. But with all of this, the album still debuted at #1 on Billboard and Carnival debuted at #3 despite having 0 radio play.
Overall, this album is pretty good and I would give it around an 8.5/10 and makes me excited for the next 2 volumes for Vultures and the new snippets and songs we have heard to be released.
