By ELLIOT AVE-LALLEMANT and THEO BJORNSTAD
“VULTURES 2” is an album by Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign that needs no introduction for all the wrong reasons. It was an overnight surprise release; multiple songs were removed after it hit streaming for copyright conflict, and it was delivered in such an unfinished state that “live musical updates” were promised to fix the album after it had debuted. So, what did those live updates amount to? How does it sound, nearly a month after its release?
You may be surprised to know it’s not great. Despite parts of it echoing the experimental harshness of “Yeezus,” it manages to present nothing we haven’t heard before. The instrumentals are “Yeezus” or “Jesus Is King.” The verses are “The Life of Pablo.” The theme is “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Despite sounding so much like his other work, it doesn’t manage to siphon a lot of the quality. These feel distinctly hollow, not calling back to earlier eras of his career, but more so like they’re just vaguely gesturing in the stylistic directions of it, saying:
“Hey– I’m like ‘Yeezus’– do you remember ‘Yeezus?’ That was a really good album, right? I have really loud drums, too, I’m just like, ‘Yeezus.’” I’d describe it as something close to musical taxidermy. All of the pieces are there, as well as the style, the production, the features, and all of the hallmarks of his earlier work. The soul, the blood coursing through its veins, is all too absent. It’s like Kanye himself forgot what made these albums so well-liked, so he just kept grafting leftover pieces of them together, creating a musical Frankenstein’s Monster.
Nowhere is this more obvious than on “FRIED.” The standout hit from “VULTURES 1” was “CARNIVAL,” a booming anthem built on the bones of harsh electronic drums and an echoing all-male choir. “CARNIVAL’s” fingerprints are all over this album, but “FRIED” feels almost heavy-handed with how much it copies the previous album’s homework.
We begin again with the choir and the drums. It is so unconvincing that even Kanye, literally screaming the chorus, could not move me. The entire performance feels depressingly phoned-in, consistent with the rest of the album. “530” is barely distinguishable from the version of it that leaked over a year ago. The final verses are still mumbly and hazy; worst of all, the audio quality took a nosedive. It is so bad that you would be forgiven for thinking he lost the song and had to redownload it from the leaked version via a YouTube to MP3 converter.
This album had many features, including Don Toliver, Playboi Carti, Kodak Black, Lil Wayne, Future, and Young Thug. Even Desiigner, who you can hear on “SKY CITY”. Kanye also included his two daughters North West, who was featured on “VULTURES 1,” and Chicago West on “BOMB.” At times, the features made the song better, like Young Thug on “RIVER” or Future on “DEAD.” Playboi Carti’s feature on “FIELD TRIP” once again reminded his fans that he is never going to drop his rumored album, “IAMMUSIC.”
Some questionable choices were made, such as Kanye giving two of his kids a whole song on “BOMB.” It seems like Kanye wanted to build on “VULTURES 1’s” “TALKING,” which also featured his daughter, North West. “BOMB” definitely added a shock factor to this album, but it left many people questioning why Kanye even did this in the first place. Another interesting choice Kanye made was including a direct sample from “O-o-h Child” by The Five Stairsteps on “SKY CITY,” where Ty Dolla $ign sings the chorus word for word, which made it feel like Kanye was just running out of ideas to the point where he starts putting other artist’s songs without changing them into his own.
The lyricism throughout this album was hilarious and a redeeming quality. It wouldn’t be a Kanye album without a few outrageous bars, and he certainly delivered on this album—even if some of them sound like they are from a poem written for a high-school English class.
Given all of this, we rate “VULTURES 2” a 4/10. It disappointed us in many ways, and some songs sounded good, but it ultimately sounded uninspired. Some songs were clearly unfinished, like “FOREVER ROLLING” and “SKY CITY,” where you can still hear unused drum tracks in the background of the vocals. For an artist that once innovated on every single project, it represents almost nothing new or unique. As people who might have once called themselves fans, it makes for a truly sad listening experience. He limps along like an old family dog. When he was younger, he used to run around the yard for hours. As you see him walk his old stomping grounds, there are flashes of that old brilliance, that energy that you once knew him for. But they’re over as quickly as they began. In our “VULTURES 1” review, we said that “the ‘he made ‘Graduation’’ mentality can’t last forever,” and after listening to this album, it is apparent that the Kanye that made “Graduation” is gone. All we have left are pretenders.
Elliot’s picks: “SLIDE,” “TIME MOVING SLOW,” “DEAD”
Theo’s picks: “TIME MOVING SLOW,” “530,” “SKY CITY”
Featured Image: “Vultures 2” Album Cover, via Spotify
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