¥$ - Vultures 1

 

The artist currently known as Ye (but still releasing under the name Kanye West for commercial purposes) is back again like backstreet. Chances are if you've found yourself in this internet backwater that is my blog, you're online enough to be aware of the myriad controversies the man has been mired in. From wearing MAGA hats to divorce to publicly stating his love for Hitler to getting cut from the Adidas roster, dude's been putting feet in his mouth more than Tarantino. The last time Kanye's controversies were this impactful, he released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, an inarguable hip-hop masterpiece that launched careers and changed the culture and conversation around hip-hop itself. This time round, Vultures 1 is here to make amends. The first of an announced trilogy with Ty Dolla Sign (or Ty$ if you want to get economical with language), it features an all-star cast of artists and producers on board. Let's be clear though, this is a superduo in name only, as good as Ty$ tends to be across the album. This has been framed as Kanye's comeback album first and foremost, with Ty$ an afterthought on what is purportedly his album too. He consistently performs well but it's all overshadowed by the raging mass of ego and personality known as Ye.

Much of the discussion around the album has indeed circled around Kanye's Kontroversies™, such as internet's busiest nerd Anthony Fantano's unreviewable 1 which talks about these while...reviewing the album. I'm not saying one should separate the art from the artist necessarily, especially when Kanye's work is so severely tied to himself. What I am saying is that art should be taken on it's own terms, while tying in the context surrounding the art and the artist to help understand it, taking into account it's cultural and aesthetic value while simultaneously considering the historical context it exists in. So, I'm going to try and do that in good faith, while acknowledging that the things Kanye has said and done are genuinely reprehensible and indicative of poor moral character. Onto the music.

"Stars" continues the gospel influenced progression from Jesus Is King and Donda, but this influence stops here on Vultures 1, with "Stars" feeling out of place, like it's building to a different album entirely. Perhaps one about mediative reflection and regret. That is not Vultures 1. On it's own merits, "Stars" is ok, but nothing grabs me. It's boring, is what I'm saying. Ty$' verse with it's irritating "woo-oh" sounds mimicking sirens and lyrics about fucking in what is supposed to be a triumphant opener feel out of place. That's without mentioning Kanye almost immediately mentioning he "keep[s] a few jews on the staff now". It's hard to separate the art from the artist when they are intent on not allowing you to. Regardless, the track is dull and lyrically unfocused. It doesn't work for me. "Keys To My Life" is where you realise Kanye may have stopped relying on ghostwriters, because I don't think the line "these texts gettin way to emoji-nal" could have come from another mind. He then compares his wife to a foster mum, which is certainly Freudian if not mature. Purportedly a love song, "Keys To My Life" falls flat on it's face through goofy lyricism, however the beat is lovely. Go Timbaland. Next up is "Paid", which feels like a throwback to The Life Of Pablo's "Fade", following on from it's Chicago house vibes. Honestly, it's not bad, but once again, Kanye is easily the worst part. Ty$ brings an energetic performance that fits the joyous nature of the beat. The problem is the opening, where Kanye off-key covers "Roxanne" by The Police with a strange and uncompelling vocal delivery. I don't really know what he's saying, but the voice he's putting on he should really have taken off (like Roxanne's red light).

"Talking" opens with a verse from Kanye's first child North West, and while it's a sweet gesture, it's grating and not something I will ever return to. Ty$ takes a different tack, singing about his child and how he hopes they don't make the same mistakes he did growing up. I would have honestly preferred Kanye drop a verse in a similar reflective vein than just putting his daughter on, but it is what it is. "Back To Me" features Kanye singing "big tiddy butt naked women don't just fall out the sky y'know" while rapping over the Jay and Silent Bob sample he took the line from. Again, aside from Kanye, the song is actually alright. I like the beat, Ty$ keeps carrying, Freddie Gibbs has a good feature, it's just... that chorus man. It's as ridiculous as it sounds and doesn't get any better over the repetition. "Hoodrat" has the worst beat Kanye has ever been involved with and everything about it sucks. "Do It" is a bright spot! The beat is dynamic, Ty$ flows beautifully on it throughout the chorus, and Kanye's verse isn't terrible! When the strings come in before YG's verse, it feels suitably maximalist and epic. "Paperwork" begins weakly, with "Do It" just kind of ending and dropping straight into it. The Yeezus-style production salvages it, but it's hard to think it would be anything but filler on that album. Here, it's on the higher tier, but nothing particularly special outside of it's production. "Burn" however, is special. Kanye spits an actual verse for what feels like the first time in years, the chorus is absolutely gorgeous, and those bells. Best track on the album bar none, it's only flaw being it's too short.

"Fuk Sumn" is like "Paperwork", a decent track that's not particularly memorable or interesting were it not surrounded by worse tracks. "Vultures" is a pretty bland, trappy tune. It feels as uninspired beatwise as is is lyrically, with Kanye throwing in a bunch of deliberately controversial, engagement bait lines such as "How can I be anti-Semitic/I just fucked a Jewish bitch" It's slow and plodding, and makes for an exceptionally weak title track. "Carnival" is certainly more energetic, but I find it kind of... annoying? The chanting chorus is performed by Inter Milan's ultra group, Curva Nord. For those unfamiliar with footballing culture, ultras are the name for organised groups of football fanatics and often hooligans, ranging from far-left to far-right politically and everywhere in between. Curva Nord have been critiqued for far-right representation, such as this case in 2019 where they presented a banner for an ultra who died after a clash with Napoli ultras. The deceased was critiqued as a neo-nazi by an Italian politician. Considering Kanye's recent political statements, I assume this was another attempt to court ragebait, accentuated by his lines comparing himself to various famous abusers (R.Kelly, Cosby, Puff Daddy) and the line "This for what they did to Chris, they can't do shit with this" referring to Chris Brown. All taken together, it's ugly. The chorus has a tendency to get stuck in my head, but in the same way "Friday" by Rebecca Black did, not through enjoyment but through mindless repetition. I don't get the hype on this one, and it's at this point in my listening that I start to consider that maybe separating the art from the artist is a wasted endeavour. Can one try and be open-minded and listen to a mindless rager when the chorus is performed by a group with links to far-right radicals? Can you continue to do so when the artist compares themselves to abusers, while asking for absolution or maybe even vengeance for a particular abuser? If none of this political stuff really matters and we should just shut up and listen to the music, then why is it always and constantly lodged right in there? At the end of the day, I find "Carnival" irritating musically and actively distasteful lyrically. Let's move on.

"Beg Forgiveness" is honestly a highlight track. Kanye injects actual emotion into his verse, Ty$ brings perhaps his most emotionally charged verse, and the track builds gorgeously, built around aforementioned abuser Chris Brown's hook. "Good (Don't Die)" was removed from spotify before I could write anything, but from what I recall, it was boring! Moving on, "Problematic" is a real shame to follow on from "Beg Forgiveness". Where "Beg Forgiveness" traded the political references and spite for genuine emotion, "Problematic" brings it all back home, feeling like whiplash. I like the horns though. "King" just fucking sucks man, I don't know what you want me to say here. It's going for cheap political shock value again with it's hook, but generally it's fucking boring. A cloying and plodding track that is a fitting end to a messy work.

Overall, I had a bad time with this album. The few bright spots remind me that Kanye is still talented and able to make great music, but it all feels tainted by his insistence on trying to court controversy for relevancy. Above all, a lot of it is just dull. I think this boredom I feel is because Vultures 1 feels like something that Kanye has never made before -  a crowd-pleaser. Even on his weakest albums, it feels like he wants to express an artistic point, or get across some sort of message, or even just open himself up to the world because he feels that he needs to. Here though, it's all trying to make hits or garner attention through shock value. There is no overarching artistic statement here like Yeezus or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy or even Jesus Is King. There is simply a collection of songs ranging from (rarely) very good to (commonly) quite bad. If this is enough for you from a generation-defining artist than more power to you, but to my ears, Vultures 1 is cynical and vapid, trading primarily in shock value and forgetting to make any kind of statement outside of Kanye's own discontent with the world. I don't miss the old Kanye, because he's still there on wax, but I do wish the new Kanye had something to say.