If Vultures 2 is an correct illustration of how Kanye West sees the world, then the Chicago rap legend, who has by no means been shy in portraying himself as a modern-day renaissance man, is without doubt one of the world’s biggest victims. A sufferer of the music trade (“Slide”). A sufferer of adidas (“My Soul”). A sufferer of Drake‘s chart dominance (“530”). A sufferer of his divorce from Kim Kardashian (additionally “530”). All the things is simply so unfair for Mr. West.
The twentieth anniversary of his seminal solo album The School Dropout handed earlier this yr and retrospectively, it’s fascinating how distinguished lots of the traits the world appears to now deplore in Kanye — the completely wounded ego, his conservative Christianity muddled with an irrepressible libido, the bruising braggadocio — have been embedded from the beginning.
“Slide,” Vultures 2’s opener and the one pre-release single from the album, is each the much-delayed undertaking’s excessive level and in addition the blueprint for the next 15 songs. For an album that’s so dominated by Kanye’s path, the primary voice we hear on Vultures 2 belongs to Ty Dolla $ign, an erstwhile reminder that that is in actual fact a collaborative undertaking, if maybe simply in title solely.
His trademark easy croon introduces the album and he instantly will get to the cynically misogynist rhymes, spitting: “Fairly woman, all she ever do is take selfies / So she solely fuckin’ with a n-gga ’trigger I’m rich.” And that’s one of many strains which can be least prone to ship Gloria Steinem after the duo with a sledgehammer.
With an ensemble of producers on the music together with London on Da Monitor, Wheezy and Fred Once more, there’s a venomous beat change that considerably harkens again to the commercial darkness of Yeezus which faucets into Vultures 2 at its finest — as an apocalyptic rave on the finish of the world. That’s the extent on which the album works. Eyes closed. Headphones on. Mind switched off. And you’ll nearly have a enjoyable time with it.
Ty does what he does, and does it properly. However after two albums, probably two extra on the way in which, and limitless days, weeks and months within the studio with one another, they’ve nonetheless but to seek out any cohesive chemistry, even by post-The Lifetime of Pablo Kanye requirements, feeling stitched collectively by half-completed concepts and dueling demotapes. Although his voice is a continuing concord all through Vultures 2, Ty stays oddly nameless, which for all of West’s faults, that’s one thing he can by no means be accused of being.
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At its most repugnant, Vultures 2 is the product of a woman-hating nihilist who seems to spend an excessive amount of time on PornHub and never sufficient hours of his day touching God’s inexperienced grass. Lyrics sway from viagra-fueled infantilism (“Attain for the popcorn, oops, that’s my cock”) to aggressive misogyny that’s barely a yard away from an Andrew Tate or Adin Ross livestream (“Neighbors know this shit get out of hand, however they smile / ‘Trigger you been so lengthy with out a man / And it gained’t be, and it gained’t be lengthy ’til you’re out of bands / The one factor you actually need is a husband”).
West additionally saves a dose of poison for ex-wife Kardashian on “530” which dates again to the notorious days of Donda 2, across the identical time their divorce was legally finalized. After a confessional opening verse that sees him seem to trace at a dependency on alcohol, his self-reflection swiftly pivots to solipsism and self-pity as he assaults the SKIMS mogul over her parenting and his lack of entry to his youngsters: “The previous yr been an odd time / Visitations on FaceTime / And who gon’ break who’s coronary heart first? At all times simply breaks mine / In search of blessings that God’ll hand me / I’m tryna simply increase the household, any individual ought to increase the nanny.”
The music actually symbolizes the confusion on the coronary heart of Vultures 2. For each fascinating concept, there are 5 terrible ones. Soccer fan chanting doesn’t get utilized in music fairly often for a cause however “River,” which closely interpolates the Leon Bridges monitor of the identical title, ought to have been a pillar that the album was constructed round. “Fried” is a manic rave of a music, purpose-built for a rager in a warehouse in the course of nowhere, however then its lyrics seem to have been written by a youngster who has simply found his first boner.
In its personal perverse manner, Vultures 2 is emblematic of 2024 — it’s loud, brash, totally devoid of substance and nearly sure to be lauded as Kanye West’s newest masterpiece by his rabid legions of stans.
RELEASE DATE: August 3, 2024
RECORD LABEL: YZY
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