With over 10 years of being in the hip-hop fandom, I was extremely excited to listen to the highly anticipated “VULTURES 1” album by musical artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. The album is in collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign and features musical artists Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Chris Brown and more.
The album featured an all-star lineup of established hip-hop producers. Notable producers include JPEGMAFIA, Timbaland, London On Da Track, Mike Dean and more.
I enjoyed the album, but it is rather weak compared to the rest of Ye’s catalog. “Vultures 1” feels incomplete and the lyrics are too unserious for me, like on the track “BACK TO ME,” the lyric “Beautiful, naked, big-titty women just don’t fall out the sky, you know?” The album feels messy and boring at times.
The album starts with its intro track titled “STARS.” The song opens with an angelic beat and features singing vocals from Ye, which I enjoyed.
“Vultures 1” then transitions to “KEYS TO MY LIFE” which has raw Ye vocals and deep, heartfelt lyrics. The song mixes softer and harder flows and features a great sample from “Can It Be All so Simple” by Wu-Tang Clan. What hurt this track was TY Dolla $ign’s verse which was slow and boring, repeating the same generic flow.
My favorite song from the album is “CARNIVAL,” produced by Ye, Digital Nas and The Lab Cook. The track features Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti and opens with my favorite sample of the album.
Carnival begins with a crowd chanting and then flows into a high-energy, bass-boosted beat. Rich the Kid kicks the song off with a bang, bringing great energy to the track. Carti and Rich the Kid’s features complemented Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s verse well, providing a mix of flows.
A notable track was “BACK TO ME,” featuring rapper Freddie Gibbs and production from Mike Dean. This track features a funny and interesting sample from the 1999 comedic-fantasy film “Dogma.” The feature is funny and whimsical but gets unserious and quite repetitive.
Gibbs’ feature on “BACK TO ME” is my favorite feature from the album. As the song grew more and more repetitive, Gibbs’ grungy sound and aggressive style of rapping saved me from wanting to skip the track.
Songs I didn’t enjoy include “BEG FORGIVENESS,” “DO IT” and “KING.” All three of these songs were weak, but “KING” is my least favorite song. “KING” has questionable lyrics and the beat is overpowering. Ye raps offbeat and uses an obscure high-pitched flow which doesn’t sound good to me.
Overall, the album was disappointing and missing a lot of key elements. The album did not flow well and felt flat-out messy. I would rate “VULTURES 1” a five out of 10 with only three tracks thoroughly impressing me.
