After being teased for several months, the album Vultures 1 (V1) by Kanye “Ye” West and Ty Dolla Sign (the duo known as ¥$) was released on Feb. 10. Framed as the first volume of a three-series album, V1 features a star-studded cast including Playboi Carti, Travis Scott and none other than West’s daughter, North West.
Reckoning with Ye’s racist beliefs
The new album comes at a time when West continues to make headlines for his racist behaviour. The behaviour ranges from making antisemitic comments on numerous platforms to wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt at his Yeezy Paris Fashion Week show. Brands including Adidas, Balenciaga and TJ Maxx have parted ways with West amid the ongoing controversy.
Artists, and humans in general, should not be idolized as godlike figures. The topic of separating art from the artist is controversial for good reason, as struggling to listen to music from objectively shitty people is completely understandable. However, most art we consume is created by humans, who can be messed up creatures.
Examples of this include John Lennon from The Beatles who abused his wife and child, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s controversial transgender comments and of course Kanye West.
The choice to separate the art from the artist is a decision everyone should take from themselves, and there isn’t a wrong or right choice, as no one can tell others what artists they can’t listen to or support.
West, despite his zealous fanbase and extremely successful musical career, is an example of someone who shouldn’t be put on a pedestal. Through an acknowledgment of West’s problematic behavior, it is possible to listen to and appreciate the music without endorsing West’s values or actions.
A chaotic beginning
In classic Kanye fashion, most aspects of this album were chaotic—both for better and worse. Prior to the album’s release, West held listening events in Florida, Chicago and New York over three months. The album art was changed twice and was even removed from Apple Music for a few hours before its eventual restoration.
The music, paradoxically, feels somewhat raw but complete. Similar to West’s previous studio album (DONDA), V1 went through several iterations and versions both prior to and following the album’s release.
The chaos enveloping West’s album release is exemplified by his merchandise prices. Originally priced at US$200 in December 2023, all items including pants, shirts and shoes were changed by West to a mere US$20 per item after the album release in February 2024.
The album merch, sold on yeezy.com, features clothes cut from a single piece of fabric rather than the traditional multiple pieces of material being sewn together. This gives the merch a somewhat unique and raw look which is an apt portrayal of the music in V1.
The music
West does no favours to anyone in terms of the cover art chosen for V1, to the point of embarrassment when listening to the album in public.
But the songs themselves are a different story. V1 has a song for everybody, as it contains splashes of previous projects. The album’s replayability lies in its production as well as in every single Ty Dolla Sign verse. Ty Dolla Sign, who excelled on every track, should be considered the MVP of V1 due to how well he compliments West.
My favorite tracks ranked in order are “BEG FORGIVENESS,” “GOOD (DON’T DIE),” “BACK TO ME,” “DO IT” and “BURN.”
One of the album’s lowlights are West’s verses, which are noticeably more corny than usual. The songs that don’t click for me include “KEYS TO MY LIFE,” “HOODRAT” and “FUK SUMN”—the latter of which seems to have a secret Alvin and the Chipmunks feature.
The Dal perspective
Similar to West’s previous albums, the reactions to V1 are polarizing.
“I don’t listen to Kanye too much and this album won’t change that,” says Mustafa Mohamed, a fourth-year civil engineering student.
Other students are similarly unimpressed. Jonathan Kaplan, a fourth-year political science major, describes the album as “quite underwhelming,” while Waqar Ishan, a third-year mechanical engineering student, characterizes it as “bad elevator music”.
Oppositely, V1 is quite good in my opinion; its messy elements elevate the music rather than degrade it. My rating of V1 is seven out of 10, with a strong suggestion to readers to listen to the album more than once before forming their opinions.
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