Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign “Vultures 1” Album Review

Vultures 1

The first installation in Ty Dolla $ign and Kanye West’s “Vultures” album series is “Vultures 1.” After being announced in October 2023 and experiencing several delays, the album was finally released on February 9, 2024.

The “Vultures 1” project is intriguing. It’s disorganized, strange, uneven, and coarse at the edges. It does, however, have some amazing moments, and this album features some of Kanye’s best songs in a while. It’s rarely boring and its unpredictable nature makes it exciting. This is an interesting record, even with a few lackluster tracks.

Album Cover Art

Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori are pictured on the left and right of the VULTURES 1 album cover, respectively. The couple stands there, composed in a room with muted gray decor. Facing the camera, Kanye is dressed totally in black, including a black hockey mask. Wearing long black stockings, black shoes, and a very thin, translucent material around her waist, Bianca Censori moves away from the onlooker while partially nude.

Originally, Kanye West wore a white hockey mask rather than a black one, emulating the Friday the 13th look of Jason Voorhees. But once the record came out, the album cover was changed, and Ye was now wearing the black hockey mask.

Tracks and Features

The album opens with STARS, which is a very short but stunning song. With a few flex lines thrown in, the lyrical content essentially feels like they are welcome us to the adventure. The drums, which are really sharp and gritty like the beat on a few songs from his most recent solo album, also contribute to the rhythm, which is very awesome. On genius, it says that Peggy has a credit on the beat as well. Wonderful vocal harmonies, a moving sample, and poignant violins conclude the piece.

The song “Keys To My Life” is rather good; it’s essentially a Kanye tune with Ty Dolla just showing up during the hook. With an occasional cheesy quip, but nothing too offensive, Kanye is addressing deep subjects like fame, love, and acceptance. It is a respectable production.

With all of its distinct beat switches, strange voice effects, and strange samples, “Paid” aims to do a lot of things in a short amount of time. As with both of their performances here, there are some odd parts as well. The mix is somewhat rough around the edges, which worked at times and sounded ridiculous at others.

The song “Talking” is split into two halves. While North’s flirting in the early part of the song sounded charming, it wasn’t really essential given the rest of the song’s context. There’s not much of a connection between the two pieces. Ty Dolla sings a beautiful song in the second part about his daughter, how quickly she is growing up, and his sentiments and obligations to her and the family. The song is quite reflective. The production, which also features James Blake, is a touch strange.

Despite its flaws, “Back To Me” is unquestionably one of the best songs to date. To be honest, the production is really rather amazing. The song’s primary refrain is a tad corny, and Kanye seems a little foolish in the second verse, but the standout parts are Ty Dolla’s hook and Freddie’s feature at the conclusion.

“Do It” is among the weakest ones thus far. The tune doesn’t benefit from the rhythm transition at the conclusion, and the beat is rather bland overall. However, Ty Dolla’s hook was infectious and exuded excitement. The song’s atmosphere was flawlessly complemented by the distorted bass line and the abrupt bursts of harsh synths. Most of the time, Quavo was his usual self, and the performances were borderline good.

Among the tracks in the album, “Burn” is undoubtedly one of the easiest to listen to and absorb. With its lovely keys and synths, the mix sounds fantastic. Kanye was alright, but Ty Dolla’s hook is amazing—it’s contagious and irresistible. It’s unfortunate that the song is so short; if it were longer, it would be the best one yet.

In “Fuk Sumn,” everything fit within the addictive and carefree feel of the song, even though the production was eclectic and some of the progressions were iffy. The features were excellent, and Travis contributed just what was required of him.

“Carnival” is a really good track. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the choir vocal sample. In addition to being extremely catchy, the hook is fierce. After the lackluster performances from the preceding “Vultures” track, Kanye and Ty Dolla’s performances were incredibly electrifying and thrilling.

The song “Good (Don’t Die)” is even better. It’s undoubtedly one of the album’s most understated tracks, but it’s also one of the most sentimental and reflective ones. Ty Dolla and Kanye seem to be addressing suicidal thoughts and surviving the night despite depressing thoughts and difficulties. The production features a gorgeous vocal sample, compelling bassline, and soothing synths that create an incredibly immersive and hypnotic sound.

Unquestionably one of the album’s best songs, “Beg Forgiveness” makes a fantastic finale. Once again, Kanye is grappling with the consequences of his deeds, and this massive vocal sample that repeats the refrain “Beg forgiveness” nearly gives the impression of being a mystical experience.

Album Theme

The album takes listeners on a trip through Ye’s mind over his recent “fall off,” following harsh criticism from the industry for his antisemitic remarks from the previous year.

Production Credits

88-Keys, Pheelz, James Blake, JPEGMAFIA, Kanye West, London on da Track, LukasBL, MIKE DEAN, Mustard, No I.D., Stryv, TheLabCook, Timbaland, Ty Dolla $ign, Wax Motif & Wheezy and many more names were involved in the album’s production.

Tracklist

#	Title	Duration	Features
1	STARS	1:56	–
2	KEYS TO MY LIFE (Ft. India Love)	2:55	India Love
3	PAID	3:16	–
4	Talking (Ft. North West)	3:06	North West
5	BACK TO ME (Ft. Freddie Gibbs)	4:56	Freddie Gibbs
6	HOODRAT	3:43	–
7	DO IT (Ft. Nipsey Hussle & YG)	3:45	Nipsey Hussle, YG
8	PAPERWORK (Ft. Quavo)	2:26	Quavo
9	BURN	1:52	–
10	Fuk Sumn (Ft. Playboi Carti & Travis Scott)	3:30	Playboi Carti, Travis Scott
11	Vultures (Ft. Bump J & Lil Durk)	4:37	Bump J, Lil Durk
12	Carnival (Ft. Playboi Carti & Rich The Kid)	4:25	Playboi Carti, Rich The Kid
13	Beg Forgiveness (Ft. Chris Brown)	6:09	Chris Brown
14	Good (Don’t Die)	3:20	–
15	Problematic	3:15	–
16	King	2:37	–

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