BELIEVER

"BELIEVER" is a song by ¥$ (Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign) that was released as the seventeenth and final track from the DIGITAL DELUXE 2 edition for their second studio album, VULTURES 2, on August 8, 2024. Despite not making the final track listing, the song was officially released 5 days after its initial release as a part of the digital exclusive deluxe album.

Production

The intro of the song samples a podcast by Cam Newton that featured Charleston White. It also has a prominent sample of "Super Sharp Shooter" by DJ Zinc throughout. The track plays at 132 BPM and is in Eb Major.

Background

The song, according to its producer Adam Vadel initially began as a completely separate song with a feature of Yseult. The bridge was reworked and eventually became its own standalone song which Adam had played at his father's funeral in 2022. On February 13 of 2024, while working with Ty Dolla $ign Adam had handed the song off to Ty for his then-solo album Beach House 4.

The song may have dated back to earlier in the VULTURES sessions, though the first known use of the song between Kanye and Ty for the record was during the pre-rework VULTURES 2 sessions. The beat was remade entirely and the vocals from Yseult were rebounced over this beat, providing a reference Ty would shortly after cover. Kanye would record multiple freestyles for the song, though his verses were never finished.

"BELIEVER" was first previewed at the private VULTURES 2 LA listening party, with Adam Vadel & JPEGMAFIA production. At the Phoenix LP, "BELIEVER" would lose JPEGMAFIA production and the intro. Little was known about the song other than that it was brought back for VULTURES 2 post-rework at some point. While it didn't release on the main album, the song was officially released as part of the the VULTURES 2 deluxe on August 8. Despite its release, the song had been very clearly unfinished, having a very short Ye verse with mumble as well as a handful of mixing issues.

Despite being a part of the deluxe, for some reason when the deluxe had been updated, this song along with the other deluxe song "DRUNK" had been seemingly left off and forgotten about.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Christians don't admit that they like to sin
Most people can't admit to the sin that they do
That they like to do
Uh, man I just believe
I just believe
So what are you?
Uh, a believer

[Chorus]
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me, now-
Make me a believer, make me a—
Make me a believer, make me, now-
Make me a believer, make me a—
Make me a believer, make me, now-
Make me a believer, make me a—
Make me a believer, make me, now-

[Bridge]
Shots, super sharp, sharp, sharp
Super sharp, shooter shooting
Super, super, super sharp shots
Super sharp shots, super sharp shots
Super, super, super, super, shots

[Verse]
Shots fired
Right by us
Type by it, type by it
Don't buy it, don't fund
Dope money

[Bridge]
Super sharp shots
Super sharp shots
Super sharp shots
Super, super, super, super—

[Chorus]
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me that
Make me a believer, make me that (Me that)
Make me a believer, make me that

[Bridge]
Shots, super sharp, sharp, sharp
Super sharp, shooter shooting
Super, super, super sharp shots
Super sharp shots, super sharp shots
Super, super, super, super—

Trivia

• In March 2024, JPEGMAFIA revealed that he had a lot of contributions for VULTURES 2. However, this is the only released song from VULTURES 2 to be produced by JPEGMAFIA.
  • Other known VULTURES 2 songs with JPEGMAFIA contributions are "GONE" , "FUK SUMN (Remix)" and "RIVER". "GONE" and the remix to "FUK SUMN" was scrapped entirely, while "RIVER" was released without JPEGMAFIA's production.