Three years after the release of his last album, Kanye West (chand now he calls himself Ye) returns to music with a new collaborative album: it’s about Vultures 1created by the hip hop superduo, formed by West himself and the singer Ty Dolla $ign. Released after multiple postponements last February 10, the album contains several collaborations with artists such as Freddie Gibbs, YG, Quavo, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Bump J, Lil Durk, Rich the Kid and Chris Brown, and one of the singles, Talking/Once Againalso contains the uncredited voice of North Westthe daughter he had with Kim Kardashian.
The publication of Vultures 1 arrives after particularly troubled years for West, especially because of his own political provocations and for his anti-Semitic comments. Many specialized publications and several music critics have even done so refused to review or talk about the album, considered yet another opportunity – which is not very original on a musical level – to reiterate the same polemical concepts on the part of the artist (in one song he again attacks Taylor Swifthis favorite target).
The cover
The controversies began even before the release of the album, given that the first cover Of Vultures 1 announced in December 2023 represented the picture Landscape with gravestones (1835) by Caspar David Friedrich, a German painter among Hitler’s favorites. The cover was changed on February 10th, with a photo of it West with his face completely hidden by a hockey mask black and her companion, Bianca Censorsframed from the semi-naked back, only with a micro-skirt, black stockings and high-heeled shoes (Ty Dolla $ign is totally absent, however).
There were also problems on the composition of the songsseeing as the rocker Ozzy Osbourne he demanded to have it removed from the song Carnival a synthesizer used in Iron Man by Black Sabbath (an initial version, previewed at some preview events, contained it, while the one actually released on the album lacks the sampling, even if it takes up another West song, Hell of a Lifewhich itself used borrowed melodies from the original Iron Man). After the release, also the heirs of Donna Summer they stated that the sampling of I Feel Love contained in the piece Good (Don’t Die) had been made without permission, even acting to change the words through the use of artificial intelligence. Therefore Good (Don’t Die) it was immediately removed from Spotify.
Removal from platforms
And speaking of removalon the afternoon of February 14th the entire Vultures 1 era disappeared from platforms like Apple Music and iTunes. At first many linked the disappearance to the controversial nature of the figure of Kanye West, some even talking about censorship. In reality the distribution company Leak released a statement in which they claimed to have removed it because the songs had been uploaded through their servers, but without their knowledge: “Late last year Fuga was presented with the opportunity to publish Vultures 1. Based on our best judgment regarding the business opportunity, we declined”, the statement reads: “On Friday, February 9, a long-time Fuga customer uploaded the album through the platform’s automatic processes, violating our service agreement”. After removal by the music distribution company, the album has been reloaded from a new platform, the Label Engine.
Despite the controversies, Kanye West seems ready to continue on his path and above all to heal the promotion of the album itself. They have been announced in the last few hours two dates in Italy: il February 22 at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan and the February 24 at the Unipol Arena in Bologna “Ye and Ty Dolla $ign invite you” – as stated in the press release – to a “hi-fidelity audio experience” linked precisely to Vultures 1. Apparently it won’t be a real concert, but the tickets on sale from 3pm on February 16th speak of a launch party. What other surprises does West have in store?