Vultures 1 by Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign: Surprise drop goes big

By: Evan Sprung

April 3, 2024                  

  After not dropping February 9, fans were left puzzled about what caused Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign not to drop and why only one song "Talking” featuring West’s daughter North was released. As soon as fans started to lose interest and with no word from Kanye or Ty Dolla $igns camp out of nowhere, the album dropped, shocking listeners with it only being available on Apple Music for the first few hours of its release.  

  The wait wasn’t for nothing as it became the Number 1 album on Apple Music. Additionally, 3 songs from the album were on the Apple Music Top 10, with “Carnival” at Number 1, “Stars” at Number 5 and “Back to Me” at Number 7. That’s not all, with West and Ty Dolla $ign also being the top Spotify Global artist for February 11. And, with this just being number 1 of 3 parts of Vultures, there’s a lot more coming. 

  But the songs on this album are something special with. My favorite being the former Number 1 song on Apple Music, “Carnival.” This song is just so different and nostalgic and new all at the same time, from the beat drop in the hook to the subtle nod to West’s “Hell of a life”. In the beat to the synth work in the background of the main verse, this song is for me is the Rap song of the year and it’s only March. 

   One song that is the definition of expression through art is “Stars”. This song was an emotional masterpiece. it could fit on multiple different Kanye albums and it could have honestly made West’s 2021 album “Donda” better. But the song itself is just a melodic and emotional masterpiece. The chorus in the background added so much to it, setting the tone very well, it did such an amazing job of articulating and painting a picture in my mind. 

  A few filler songs would be “Paperwork”, “Keys to my life”, and “Problematic.” The one I want to shine light on is “Paperwork”. The kind of “let me set the record straight” type of feel that it gave me was something that I was not expecting but I liked it. It's not one of my top songs on this album but it definitely deserves more recognition. “Problematic” is one of my favorites on the album, but I would say the only problem with “Problematic” is the lyric choices because at this point in the album I was just hoping Kanye would bring it home with no issues or controversial statements. But, of course, that didn’t happen with West saying “I’m not racist it’s a preference” during the closing verse of the song and that’s my only complaint about the song. 

  While this album didn’t have many misses, there are a few songs I didn’t like with. One of them being “Burn”. It just didn’t fit on the album, and it didn’t feel like a comeback anthem like the rest of the songs on this album do. Another of the select few would be “Paid”, as the beat felt a little too experimental and the chorus was repetitive. 

  With an album like this, Ty Dolla $ign was very overshadowed but in my opinion, he didn’t need to be on the album, and I justify that with the fact that he was overshadowed by featured artist Playboi Carti on the biggest song on the album. Even on songs like “Back to me” or “Stars”, his verses were very weak, and he should not have had as many verses as he had. Despite the fact of Ty Dolla $ign not meeting the standard that Kanye as an artist sets for himself the future is bright for Kanye’s discography showing the world that the old Kanye is still alive.