Kanye West
Vultures 2
Release Date: Aug 3, 2024
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: YZY
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Album Review: Vultures 2 by Kanye West
Mediocre, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 4.6/10
VULTURES 2 opens with a staggering wall of sound that resembles THX’s Deep Note. Dr. Dre’s 2001 famously opens with the same sonic logo, using it to establish the cinematic scope of the album’s slick, muscular G-funk. “Everything you hear is planned. It’s a movie,” Dre told The New York Times in 1999. With its exquisitely arranged melodies and drums, 2001 was immersive and detailed, like cruising through Southern California in the Discovery One. Listening to VULTURES 2, the sequel to Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s surprisingly coherent collab from February, is more akin to being imprisoned inside an Akademiks livestream. .
Based on rating 4/5
At this point, one expects a Kanye West album to be incomplete in some way upon release, but Vultures 2, his second collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, is in shambles. It’s marked by improper mixes, unfinished verses, demo-quality audio (“530,” a Donda 2 leftover, sounds like it was ripped from a YouTube leak), and one track in particular, the otherwise heartfelt “My Soul,” is panned to one speaker. Of course, these are trivialities that West will eventually get around to fixing like he did with 2016’s The Life of Pablo..
Based on rating 4/5
In February, Ye (the former Kanye West) shocked the music industry when Vultures I, the first of a planned trilogy with Ty Dolla $ign as Y$, opened at Number One on the Billboard 200 chart. It was only a year ago when Ye’s rank antisemitism and adoration of white supremacists prompted an exodus of corporate supporters. Then, with Vultures I, he joined a wave of “canceled” men reestablishing ties with polite society.
Based on rating 4/5
If there were any further proof needed that cancel culture isn’t real, look to Kanye West. After the artist now known as Ye made a series of antisemitic remarks that prompted many fans and commercial partners to desert him, plenty of other fans remained, spurring him to his biggest commercial success in years. Not only did the Ty Dolla $ign collaboration Vultures 1 top the US album chart on its release in February – West’s albums invariably do – it also produced a genuine global hit in Carnival, which took him back to the top of the US singles chart for the first time since 2011..
Based on rating 2/5
If Vultures 2 is an accurate representation of how Kanye West sees the world, then the Chicago rap legend, who has never been shy in portraying himself as a modern day renaissance man, is one of the world's greatest victims. A victim of the music industry ("Slide"). A victim of adidas ("My Soul"). A victim of Drake's chart dominance ("530").
Based on rating 3/10
Released in February 2024, Vultures 1 represented the dawning of ¥$, a sensationalized if not entirely necessary team-up between Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign. While more cohesive than some of the bumbling and cut-rate material West had passed off as albums in the years that led up to it, Vultures 1 was ultimately void of substance, personality, or any kind of meaningful chemistry between the two rap superstars. Adding to the bloat and a general sense of needlessness was the concept that ¥$ would be presenting a trilogy of Vultures albums before 2024 was up.
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