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Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign Debut Joint Album ‘Vultures’ in Miami With Offset, Chris Brown and Freddie Gibbs
Kanye West waits on no one. Fans experienced this firsthand at the world premiere of “Vultures,” his long-awaited collaborative album with Ty Dolla Sign under the name ¥$. Just a day after he premiered cuts from the project guerilla-style at a Jamaican restaurant in Miami, he took over Wynwood Marketplace in the same city for the Vultures Rave, with a promised start time of midnight.
Nearly two-and-a-half hours later, West and Ty finally assumed the spotlight after stagehands struggled to hook up West’s phone to the audio system. Viewers at home witnessed it all in real-time as a stream on YouTube glitched and restarted numerous times in the lead-up to the broadcast. Tickets for those in attendance ran $200 for general admission, $600 for VIP and $10,000 for a table.
Fans and at-home viewers who stuck around were treated to about 10 songs from the project, reportedly released this Friday. To deliver the full experience, the duo tapped the album’s guest stars to join them on stage, with a coterie of artists including Chris Brown, Offset, Kodak Black, Lil Durk, Bump J, Freddie Gibbs and West’s daughter North appearing beside them. (Those hoping for a Playboi Carti appearance came up short, as he was on a plane ride that didn’t touch down in time.)
What fans experienced was a sharper preview of the low-quality and unfinished snippets that have recently dribbled out. West devotees were likely already familiar with the opening track “Everybody,” which he previewed on social media last week and plays as an interpolation of Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” Only instead of mining a sample from the boy band, the song features a recreated chorus from Charlie Wilson, who joins West, Ty and Lil Baby on the track.
West’s daughter North got her moment to shine on “Slide,” where she tests out her rap skills alongside her dad and Ty over a James Blake sample. “It’s gonna get messy, just just bless me bless me / It’s your bestie, miss Miss Westie,” she raps. North wasn’t the only one of West’s children to appear, as Kim Kardashian stood alongside their kids and cleared the stage before the performance. (Those watching on socials bore witness to Saint hitting IShowSpeed’s Sui dance.)
“Vultures” is an album that seems to have an audio throughline, with plucking synth bass notes and a galloping pace. West and Ty leave lots of space for featured artists, and there are plenty. Nicki Minaj drops a verse on the highly anticipated finished version of “New Body,” while Gibbs delivers a show-stopping guest turn on “Back to Me,” produced by longtime West collaborator 88-Keys. On the latter, they sample a clip from the film “Dogma” where co-star Jason Mewes says, “Beautiful, big-tittied women don’t just fall out of the sky, you know,” which West repeats throughout.
There’s a splash of house music on “Paid,” while Brown takes up most of the room on “Beg Forgiveness.” “River” plays as a homage to Young Thug, who’s currently on trial and features on the track, and Ty cleans up at the end with an interpolation of Leon Bridges’ song of the same name.
West is no stranger to controversy, and already caught flack for a snippet of a line on “Vultures” where he states, “How I’m antisemitic, I just fucked a Jewish bitch.” It comes in a string of antisemitic remarks over the past year, and he didn’t shy from the discourse. As the song played, West stoked the flames by donning a black Klansman hat, pausing at the end of the song to glare at the audience.
Though less of a performance and more of a showcase, the evening abruptly ended as the clock struck 3 a.m. in Miami. The venue shut the speakers off, and to get one last lick in, West repeated the line from “Vultures” on the mic. As the crowd shuffled out, West made his way through the crowd, seemingly pleased with himself.
Kanye West ‘announces release date and tracklist’ for album with TY Dolla $ign
Kanye West has announced that his new joint album with Ty Dolla $ign will be released on Friday 15 December, marking his return to music after a string of widely publicised controversies.
In a club appearance over the weekend with fellow rapper Ty Dolla $ign, West, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, was reportedly heard announcing the record: “It’s called Vultures, and it’s coming out this Friday.”
Ty Dolla $ign also announced that a listening party would be held on Tuesday 12 December in Miami.
West, 46, previously debuted the title track during a surprise performance at Dubai nightclub Blu, where it emerged that the song included West rapping: “How am I antisemitic? I just f***** a Jewish b****.”
Adidas ended its years-long partnership with West after he made several “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous” comments about Jewish people.
Shortly after this, he caused further uproar by declaring that he “liked Hitler” during an interview with right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his channel, Infowars. Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes was also being interviewed on the programme.
West’s last major release was his 2021 album Donda, itself a controversial project that included an appearance by Marilyn Manson, just weeks after the rock musician was accused of sexual and physical abuse by multiple women.
Manson denied all of the allegations against him, insisting that his “intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners”.
West is currently rumoured to be married to former employee Bianca Censori. He shares his four children – North, 10; Saint, seven; Chicago, five and Psalm, four – with ex-wife Kim Kardashian, whom he divorced last year.
(Photo by Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Last week, Ty Dolla $ign shared a tracklist for the new album to Instagram, with song titles including “Lifestyle”, “Worship”, Beg Forgiveness”, and “Drunk”.
It will also include the track “Back to Me”, after a low-quality video of West and TY Dolla $ign listening to the clip surfaced on social media in October.
Rumoured guest artists include Future and Playboi Carti, while reports suggest that the duo could sample the Backstreet Boys and singer Leon Bridges.
West has a track record of announcing albums then failing to release them on schedule. He announced two albums in 2020 that have yet to be released: God’s Country and Donda: With Child.
Donda was also delayed by a month, while Jesus is King, originally titled Yandhi, was set for release in August 2018 but eventually came out as Jesus is King in October the following year, after a further four missed released dates.
The Vultures release has already been postponed from a “multi-stadium listening event” that was announced for 3 November 2023.
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