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"TALKING" (originally titled "Talking/Once Again") is a song by ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign) that was released as a single on February 8, 2024.[1] It was later released as the fourth track from ¥$'s debut studio album, VULTURES 1 (2024).[2] It was first released on YouTube on February 7, 2024, via a music video.[3] The song features vocals from North West and James Blake, the latter of whom is uncredited.

In the song, Ty sings about how he wants to be a good influence on his children.

Production[]

The song samples a video of a Stomp and Shake battle from the ‘Wolfpack’ cheerleading team at Wilkes-Barre Area High School, which was uploaded on April 15, 2023.[4]

Background[]

The first half of the song, "TALKING", dates back to the James Blake and No I.D. album, WAR, from early 2022. The snippet to the first version leaked on February 17th, 2023. This version does not have the cheerleading team sample, and is unknown if it contains any Kanye or North vocals on this version.[5]

When the first Vultures tracklist came around, "TALKING" was not present, but was still previewed in the Miami listening party on December 12, but only the "TALKING" portion of the song.[6] Consequence's son, Caiden the Crownholder also had a verse on the song alongside North, as previewed by his father on February 29, 2024. It is is unknown when this version was made.[7] The second full preview of the song taken place at the Las Vegas listening party, featuring new Kanye vocals on the intro.[8]

On December 28, the "ONCE AGAIN" portion was fully previewed on DJ Pharris' radio station Power 92 prior to the supposed release of "Everybody," which was initially confused as the song "Unlock."[9] This song would be derived from the song "Rain On Me" by Mamii, which was initially a country song that was unintended for Vultures that Kanye and Ty taken for their own album.[10] Ant Clemons also recorded a reference for Ty's part as he himself previewed on his Instagram on February 7th, 2024 titled "Everything." This version features entirely different production from the final version.[11]

The song was not seen on any track lists until January 31, where it was listed on the thirteenth track on the back of a shirt North was wearing.[12] Two days later, HipHopDX revealed a newer track list for Vultures, which listed the song as the ninth track.[13] The song was officially released on February 7, 2024, alongside the song's music video and appeared as track 4 of the final VULTURES 1 record.[3][2]

On March 7, Caiden the Crownholder released a remix to the song.[14] It appears to be the finished verse he did for the demo track featuring him. The remix removes the adlibs seen in the snippet as well as North's verse.

On August 4th, in response to not being allowed to help fix VULTURES 2, reference writer Fat Money officially released one of his references for the song he recorded during the WAR era onto his SoundCloud page titled "Talking Freestyle".[15]

Music video[]

On January 24, Kanye posted a video on Instagram of North talking about the music video for the song.[16] On February 7, the video (directed by D'Innocenzo Brothers) was first posted to Instagram, then Twitter, and finally YouTube.[3] In it, North is seen singing the song's lyrics while also getting a makeover. Kanye and Ty are also seen in the video.

A second music video to the song surprise dropped on April 30, 2024.[17] The video is directed by North herself and co-directed by Aus Taylor.

Lyrics[]

[Chorus]
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)

[Verse]
I love it here
We gonna take over the year for another year
It's your bestie, Miss, Miss Westie
Don't tryna test me
It's gonna get messy
It's gonna get messy
Just, just bless me
Bless me (Talking)
It's your bestie, Miss, Miss Westie (Talking)
Just tryna bless me (Talking)
Just bless me, bless me (Talking)

[Chorus]
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
You don't want no problems, you just— (Talking)
(Talk)



[Intro]
Once again, the clouds are gatherin' to release what they held in (Ooh)
What they held in (Held in)
What they held in (Held in)
What they held in (Held in)

[Chorus]
Once again, the clouds are gatherin' to release what they held in (Again, once—, yeah)
Once again, the clouds are gatherin' to release what they held in

[Verse]
How much to stop the clock from speedin'? They might try to slow down
How much to stop my daughter from growin'? I just can't take it now
'Cause she just doing all the shit I did when I was her age
I don't know how I'm gonna tell her, but her dad's just afraid
Of her choices, know that I've been through it
I just hope I haven't been the wrong influence
Put her on game before the world put her through it
Ooh-ooh, oh-oh
That's why I gotta break the curses that were sent for me
This is hard work working, this ain't destiny
My motivation is just lookin' at my family tree
I'm tryna make sure I contribute for the legacy

[Chorus]
Once again, the clouds are gatherin' to release what they held in (Again-again, once again)
Once again, the clouds are gatherin' to release what they held in

[Outro]
Once again, the clouds are gathering to release what they held in (Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh, oh)
Once again, the clouds are gathering to release what they held in (Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh, oh)
Once again, the clouds are gathering to release what they held in (Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh, oh)
Once again, the clouds are gathering to release what they held in (Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh, oh)

Trivia[]

  • "TALKING" marks Ye and No I.D.'s first released collaboration since "Bound 2".
  • Another version of the song was created featuring an unknown vocalist replacing James Blake's portions and removes the "ONCE AGAIN" portion of the song. This version was created for TikTok, as Universal, one of James Blake's labels had restricted music stemming from their artists from being used on the platform.[18]
  • This and "PROBLEMATIC" marks the first songs from the WAR era to officially release.
  • Out of all the music videos during the VULTURES era, this is one of the only ones that isn't made with AI.

References[]

VULTURES 1
Singles
"VULTURES" • "TALKING" • "CARNIVAL"
Other tracks
"STARS" • "KEYS TO MY LIFE" • "PAID" • "BACK TO ME" • "HOODRAT" • "DO IT" • "PAPERWORK" • "BURN" • "FUK SUMN" • "BEG FORGIVENESS" • "GOOD (DON'T DIE)" • "PROBLEMATIC" • "KING"
Chronology
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