Kanye West has released music again: a statement that used to be exciting in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, back when he was an innovative figure with a mind full of new ideas to use in his music. Nowadays, it’s different. With his controversial status in pop culture, a lot of his political views can seep through into his music, deterring people from listening.
VULTURES 1 was released on February 10th at approximately 3:00 AM to listeners on Apple Music and Tidal. At around 1:00 PM, the album became available to Spotify listeners. The album time sits at 53 minutes, with 13 tracks. It was originally 14 tracks and 56 minutes long, however “Good (Don’t Die)” got taken off streaming services due to copyright issues.
The album kicks off with the track “STARS”, which is a great, peaceful intro track. “STARS” is probably one of the better non-rap tracks in Ye’s discography, and it gives a euphoric feeling with a drum set and Ty Dolla $ign fitting perfectly beside him. The next track, “KEYS TO MY LIFE”, is a dynamic track that features Ye’s storytelling aspects in the first half of the song and has Ty$ crooning on an easy instrumental in the second half of the cut. “PAID” is an upbeat track that features a good chorus from Ty$ and then some subpar rapping by Ye. Overall, this track lacks memorability and good replay value.
The next song, “TALKING”, features Ye’s daughter, North, on the chorus. This song sort of serves as an interlude into the wild and mind spinning cut, “BACK TO ME”. An amazing instrumental, mind boggling lyrics, and an outstanding feature by Freddie Gibbs makes this song an experience to remember. After “BACK TO ME”, “HOODRAT” features a sample at the beginning, and then transforms into an instrumental you would expect from The Life Of Pablo. Other than that, it’s an alright track. No real substance, and the sample can get annoying.
The next track, “DO IT” (ft. YG), is a vibey, up tempo track that sees Ty$ taking over the chorus and Ye picking up on verse two. YG’s feature isn’t memorable, but the song is otherwise good. “PAPERWORK” features Quavo. Riddled with deep bass and spotty performance from all artists, this song is overall forgettable.
The next song, “BURN”, is one of the bright spots on this album. The instrumental evokes the feeling of early College Trilogy Kanye, making it a very fun track. Ty$ takes over the chorus and Kanye raps on the back half of the track. My only complaint is that it is a shallow two minutes long, but sometimes good things have to come in small packages. “F*K SUMN (ft. Travis Scott & Playboi Carti)” is an interesting track, with a slow beat and plentiful bass. Playboi Carti and Travis Scott don’t have their best feature performances, but it is solid enough to make the song listenable.
The title track “VULTURES” fits into its spot in the album, but it wasn’t the correct song to have as a single. There were plenty of songs that were more apt for the role of a lead single. Personally, I think “BURN” could have been the main single off of this LP. “VULTURES” has grown on me a little bit, however.
“CARNIVAL (ft. Rich The Kidd & Playboi Carti)” is an absolutely mind boggling song. Its anthem-like features combined with the background yelling and an absolutely pulverizing bass on the instrumental makes it truly special. Rich The Kidd has a good feature, where he raps the “Go! Go! Go! Go!” in the chorus and does his own verse. Ty$ absolutely glides on the beat with a relentless attack. Ye has another subpar verse, where he starts running on. Playboi Carti, however, has easily one of his best guest verses ever. With a repeating and relentless attack on the instrumental, his feature lasts about a minute before the song ultimately ends.
To follow up that crazy experience, “BEG FORGIVENESS” is a six minute track that features Chris Brown. The first four minutes relies on Ty$ singing over a relaxed instrumental, but then Chris Brown comes in at the beat switch. He gives a pretty good vocal performance in the last two minutes, but the instrumentals mostly carry the song.
Next is “PROBLEMATIC”, which can only be described as a mesh of “Moon” from Donda and “Bound 2” off of Yeezus. A crooning makes up the chorus, and the song has Ty$ and Ye going back and forth between verses.Ye has one of his best vocal performances in a long while, which is a big bright spot in this track. The last track, “KING”, has a captivating instrumental along with a sort of obnoxious verse from Ye. A great ending to the album, but I personally would have liked for “PROBLEMATIC” to be last.
To summarize, this album has a lot of quality on it. It feels finished and well thought out, and Ye taking the role of villain on the album fits in perfectly with his persona and how he is thought of currently in the public eye. Ty$ shines on this project, and while Ye doesn’t contribute like he used to lyrically (some of these lyrics are really lackluster), it is still enough to remind audiences of his former self.
Instrumental: 10/10
Lyrics: 5.5/10
Quality: 8.7/10
Listening Experience: 9.1/10
FINAL RATING: 8.3/10
