VULTURES 2 (stylized in all caps) is the second studio album by ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign), which was released on August 3, 2024, through YZY.[1] The album features collaborations with Don Toliver, Future, Lil Wayne, Lil Durk, Playboi Carti, 070 Shake, CyHi, and more.[1] Five deluxe editions of the album were released exclusively onto the Yeezy website on August 7, 2024.[2]
In VULTURES 2, Kanye continues carrying on the themes of VULTURES 1, with songs focusing on his relationships, religion, freedom, and money. The album is notable for its unfinished sound, which Kanye updated in the following weeks and months after the album's release. VULTURES 2 was critically panned due to its unfinished songs and Kanye's usage of artificial intelligence (AI), which listeners called out for being lazy.
Background[]
Pre-VULTURES 2 rework[]
On January 23, Kanye announced that Vultures would be split up into 3 volumes, with the second volume releasing on March 8.[3] On February 14, in an Instagram post, Kanye revealed that the album is "super positive and fun". Lil Wayne was also confirmed to be a feature on the album, marking their first collaboration since 808s & Heartbreak (2008).[4] Following the release of VULTURES 1, Ye went silent and traveled to Italy with his wife, Ty, and other artists such as Playboi Carti and JPEGMAFIA.[5][6][7]
On March 7, JPEGMAFIA previewed new versions of VULTURES 1 songs such as "FUK SUMN" and "PAID".[8][9] However, the album missed its original release date of March 8, 2024. When asked about the album, Ye told a fan that he and Ty were "in the lab".[10] A day later, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign revealed the new cover art for the album and previewed new songs in a private listening party.[11][12] The Legendary Traxster also teased the album, leading fans to believe that it may have been finished by that point. However, due to Kanye wanting the album to drop on all streaming platforms at once, it was set to take longer than VULTURES 1.[13]
On March 10, Ye revealed that he was considering solely selling the album digitally, citing James Blake as a reason.[14] Ye later confirmed that he would be selling the album for $20 on Yeezy.com, drawing lots of criticism from fans.[15] That same day, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign held a listening party for the album in Phoenix, previewing several new songs.[16] On March 13, another listening party for the album is held in San Francisco.[17] That same day, several songs are quietly added onto Instagram and TikTok with the VULTURES 2 album cover.[18][19]
The first official tracklist seen for VULTURES 2.
It was rumored that the album was set to drop following a performance at Rolling Loud, however, the performance was extremely controversial as there was no real performance from ¥$. In addition, no songs from VULTURES 2 were even played at all, and the album failed to release. It was reported that there were other plans for the performance, which were canceled due to weather.[20][21][22] On March 19, DJ Pharris announced that he would be previewing two songs from VULTURES 2. However, he learned that he wasn't messaging The Legendary Traxster, but instead, a hacker, causing the preview to be cancelled.[23][24] On March 21, Ye confirmed that the album would be releasing on May 3.[25] Four days later, Ye also confirmed in an interview with Hypebeast Magazine that VULTURES 2 and VULTURES 3 would be releasing "through his own platforms".[26]
During the rollout, Ye was also involved in several different controversies. He fired influencer YesJulz and sued her for $7.7 million on March 12 for NDA violations.[27] In response, YesJulz made a long Twitter thread on March 29 which revealed that Team Yeezy "[violated] an NDA that she claims she never signed". She also threatened to countersue Ye.[28] Meanwhile, former Donda Academy employee Trevor Phillips sued Ye on April 2 for alleged poor working conditions, antisemitic and homophobic rants, sexual behavior, and plans to shave students' heads and lock them in cages.[29]
For weeks, no word surrounding the album or Kanye as a whole would come out until April 21, 2024, where Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign would appear on the remix to "Like That" by Future and Metro Boomin after previewing it several times prior to release.[30] A day before the song's release, a trusted source confirmed the album was set to release on May 3rd and shown off a tracklist intended for the album.[31] The tracklist was in alphabetical order, however, so it's very unlikely the order given is the final arrangement.
Since then, Takeoff was said to have a posthumous feature on the album which was said to have been the song "YE ABOUT MINE" featuring him, Rich The Kid and NBA Youngboy.[32] This song did not appear on the prior tracklist, meaning the tracklist must have been tweaked a bit. The album's release date was still set to release on May 3rd, 2024.[33]
VULTURES 2 rework[]
After failing the May 3rd release, Kanye wanted to change the entire sound of the Album. The new sound would be more chill. Kanye would first preview the new sound on an Cactus Jack Promo. The song is called "Nights On The Moon" and is apart of the new chill sound for VULTURES 2. Other songs that are consideration for the new sound for VULTURES 2 consisted "Slide", "River", "Promotion", "Drunk", "Matthew", the brought back Donda (Pio Pico sessions) throwaway "I Let Go", as well as several songs from WAR in 2022. Along with the sound direction, several songs had reportedly been thrown away, like "Take Off Your Dress" which had been intended to release on the record.
Producer SHDØW would preview several VULTURES 2 songs on May 30th, including snippets of "Worship" and the newly produced "River", "Drunk", "Time Moving Slow", and "Take Off Your Dress"; despite it being confirmed to have been scrapped at this point.[34]
On the 31st, verified leaker Luit provided an infodump on the new album, stating that all songs that were previously reworked are still considered for the album, as well as confirming songs such as "Field Trip" and "Fried" were brought back into reconsideration. 1/3 of the album is now completely new songs while the other 2/3 were songs that were still intended for VULTURES 2. The album is taking a clean direction and most of the songs have been censored out and Ty has rerecorded several verses, including Ty's new verse for "Fried" which initially had a line in defense of P. Diddy amidst the multiple charges the rapper had been facing. The album's production was being heavily reworked, including songs like "River" and "Lifestyle". "Field Trip" had still not been finished and lacks a complete Ye verse, despite what other sources had said, and one of the few new songs had a 2pac sample.[35]
All the snippets from SHDØW's live were all most likely alt prods from around December, hence why he played them.[35] None of the five songs previewed are confirmed to be on the album besides "River" which had already been confirmed. Ye was last recording and finishing vocals back towards the beginning of May, but had not throughout the rest of the month.
Other songs like "Drunk" and "Take Off Your Dress" were brought back into consideration. However, it has since been confirmed Drunk has been scrapped from the album and Take Off Your Dress' status is currently unknown. Other songs like "Star Time" from the So Help Me God sessions and "Not Inclusive" from the early YEBU sessions were confirmed by trusted leaker Luit to have been brought back into consideration for the album.
On the 8th of July, a listening experience for Vultures was announced in Korea to take place on the date of August 23rd.[36] Given the lighter contrast fitting the theme of a lighter sounding album, this listening party is believed to be the first full VULTURES 2 listening party. However, since then Kanye has announced his plans to retire from professional music due to his lack of creativity in his music as shared by Rich The Kid.[37] It was later confirmed by Milo Yiannopoulos that the retirement was false.[38] On July 14, Ty Dolla $ign performed at a concert and revealed that the album would be dropping "very fucking soon".[39] Eleven days later, Ty announced that a VULTURES 2 listening party would be held in Taiwan on August 25th.[40]
On July 31st, Kanye's site YZY had finished shipping out their 100 orders and had posted a clock on their site as well as a message reading that VULTURES 2 would be available on August 2nd.[41] The message was taken down the following day.[42] When August 2nd finally rolled around, the album was nowhere to be seen, but a new tracklist for the latest version of the album was revealed at roughly 3 AM EST, though was swiftly taken down.[43] This track list featured two new song names, "FORTUNE AND FAME" and "PUSSY COST MONEY" as well as the song "5:30" from the Donda 2 era, which reference writer E. Ness had confirmed to have been brought back for VULTURES 2 the previous month.[44] That same day, Aus Taylor, the designer of the cover for VULTURES 1 & 2 would tweet "2", seemingly hinting at the album.[45]
Although it could be possible that this track listing was fake, this is very unlikely, as this would require a small group of people to all know the name of a song that was previously untitled and very unknown in general to fake a screenshot at the same time (all matching spacing and styling perfectly) or someone with the track's name to hack the site, both scenarios being highly unlikely. Ty was also seen recording the album by the same time that the track list was revealed, presumably recording for "5:30" given the wavelength in the bottom corner.[46]
At 11PM EST that same day, "SLIDE" was released as the lead single for the album exclusively on yeezy.com.[47] Shortly after, Ye insider JoyBoy said they were working on uploading more songs to the site.[48] The song's data also confirms the song was intended to be track 1 of VULTURES 2.[49] By 12AM EST, the song was available on streaming platforms.[50]
The entire was officially released the following day on August 3rd[1].[51] Despite the rework, it seems only several songs went along to fit within it to a degree as one of the songs, "PROMOTION", had completely undone any of the formerly clean lyrics that were once prevalent on it.
Post-release[]
On August 3, after the album released, Ye and Ty began updating the songs. They released some tracks as singles[52] and updated the mixing for "MAYBE", which had been renamed to "FOREVER".[53] It was also revealed that Ye had not cleared the samples for "FIELD TRIP"[54] or "530"[55], although the person whose song was sampled in "530" didn't want to get Ye to take it down.
As the album continued getting updated, a deluxe version of the album was first announced on the Yeezy website on August 7.[2] The song, "TAKE OFF YOUR DRESS", was later released on the Yeezy website. Creeping up on the date that billboard charts updated, Ye released "BELIEVER", "GUN TO MY HEAD", and "DRUNK". To many people's surprise, "CAN U BE" appeared on streaming services, not changed at all. It was soon taken down, and a new version including Ty Dolla $ign appeared on Yeezy.com. Irko was hired to fix the mixing for VULTURES 2, and it has since been updated. the digital deluxe tracks have not made it to DSPs yet, even though it was announced for August 23rd, 2024.[56]
Major tweaks between the initial release and the final rework consist of new drums on "RIVER", new Ty vocals added to "LIFESTYLE", "HUSBAND" removed from the end of "LIFESTYLE", quacking sample on "LIFESTYLE" being turned down, Ty and AI vocals added to "CAN U BE", a new Quentin Miller AI'd verse on "FOREVER", addition and removal of new adlibs on "FRIED", and major mixing fixes by Irko.
The deluxe to the album was uploaded on YouTube, Apple Music and SoundCloud on August 23rd.[57] However, only "CAN U BE", "TAKE OFF YOUR DRESS" and "GUN TO MY HEAD" made the final cut, likely due to the songs being in near finished states and Kanye was lazy and did not want to record any more verses for "BELIEVER" or "DRUNK". The album was taken back off of streaming again the following day for unclear reasons.
The album received its final update on November 10, with the outro being cut from "RIVER", the outro being trimmed on "MY SOUL", the Cruza drums on "TIME MOVING SLOW" being replaced with the AyoAA drums, Yuno Miles being added to "BOMB" and "530" being given new AI Kanye and Ty vocals on the second half.[58] Most of these updates had been previewed at the Haikou listening party, however a new guitar intro for the song "FRIED" which had also been previewed at the listening party had not been uploaded alongside the rest of the album.
Artwork[]
The original cover for VULTURES 2 was revealed on January 23, 2024. Just like VULTURES 1 and VULTURES 3, it was inspired by a painting from 19th-century painter Caspar David Friedrich, titled Landscape with Graves.[59] Unlike the other two albums, however, the VULTURES 2 cover edited the painting to be mostly black, in contrast to the VULTURES 1 cover.
On March 9, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign revealed the new cover for the album.[12] This cover features Ty standing alone in the same outfit that Ye wore in the VULTURES 1 cover. He holds a portrait of his brother, Big TC, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2004.[60][61] There have been two variations of this cover; one posted by Ye and another posted by Ty with featured a different color hue.
On August 2, "SLIDE" released as a single on the Yeezy website, revealing the new artwork for the album.[62] The new artwork featured the same photo as the one revealed on March 9, although it was slightly altered.
Chart performances[]
VULTURES 2 debuted and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 107,000 album units sold, only being beat by Taylor Swift's album, The Tortured Poets Department.[63] Because of this, VULTURES 2 becomes Ye's first album since The College Dropout to not debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.[64] Only four of the album's 16 songs charted on the Billboard Hot 100 ("FIELD TRIP", "PROMOTION", "FRIED", and "SLIDE").
In other countries, VULTURES 2 debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart.[65] The album also reached the top 3 in several countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Poland, Denmark, and Lithuania.[66]
Track list[]
| No. | Title | Length | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “SLIDE” | 3:17 | |||
| 2. | “TIME MOVING SLOW” | 2:39 | |||
| 3. | “FIELD TRIP” | 2:43 | |||
| 4. | “FRIED” | 2:46 | |||
| 5. | “ISABELLA” | 0:08 | |||
| 6. | “PROMOTION” | 2:38 | |||
| 7. | “530” | 4:48 | |||
| 8. | “DEAD” | 4:23 | |||
| 9. | “FOREVER ROLLING” | 3:14 | |||
| 10. | “BOMB” | 3:51 | |||
| 11. | “RIVER” | 3:34 | |||
| 12. | “FOREVER” | 2:15 | |||
| 13. | “HUSBAND” | 2:17 | |||
| 14. | “LIFESTYLE” | 3:23 | |||
| 15. | “SKY CITY” | 4:22 | |||
| 16. | “MY SOUL” | 3:57 | |||
| Total length: | 49:02 | ||||
| DIGITAL DELUXE 1 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 17. | “TAKE OFF YOUR DRESS” | 3:25 | ||||||||
| Total length: | 52:27 | |||||||||
| DIGITAL DELUXE 2 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 17. | “BELIEVER” | 3:12 | ||||||||
| Total length: | 52:14 | |||||||||
| DIGITAL DELUXE 3 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 17. | “DRUNK” | 3:09 | ||||||||
| Total length: | 52:11 | |||||||||
| DIGITAL DELUXE 4 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 17. | "GUN TO MY HEAD" | 2:12 | ||||||||
| Total length: | 51:14 | |||||||||
| DIGITAL DELUXE 5 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 17. | "CAN U BE" | 3:30 | ||||||||
| Total length: | 52:32 | |||||||||
Notes[]
- "TIME MOVING SLOW" features additional vocals from the Hooligans.
- "FIELD TRIP" features vocals from Don Toliver, Playboi Carti, and Kodak Black.
- "FRIED" features vocals from the Hooligans.
- "PROMOTION" features vocals from Future.
- "DEAD" features vocals from Future and Lil Durk.
- "FOREVER ROLLING" features vocals from Lil Baby.
- "BOMB" features vocals from Yuno Miles and Ye's daughters, North and Chicago West.
- "RIVER" features vocals from Young Thug and additional vocals from the Hooligans and Charlie Wilson.
- "LIFESTYLE" features vocals from Lil Wayne.
- "SKY CITY" features vocals from 070 Shake, Desiigner, and CyHi, and additional vocals from The-Dream and Ant Clemons.
- "MY SOUL" features vocals from Ty's big brother, Big TC and additional vocals from Todd Rundgren and the Sunday Service Choir.
- "DRUNK" features vocals from Peso Pluma and Kodak Black.
- "GUN TO MY HEAD" features vocals from Kid Cudi.
- "CAN U BE" features vocals from Travis Scott.
Trivia[]
- This is the first "sequel" album released by Ye on streaming services.
- Yeezus II, a sequel to Yeezus, was scrapped and evolved into The Life Of Pablo.
- JESUS IS KING: The Dr. Dre Version, a sequel and a remix album for JESUS IS KING, was scrapped entirely.
- Donda 2, a sequel to Donda, did release, albeit only on the Stem Player. Many of the songs were also unfinished.
- With 12 of the album's 21 overall tracks being released as singles (including the deluxe songs), VULTURES 2 now has the record for having the most singles out of any album in Kanye's discography.
- The record was previously held by Watch The Throne, which had 7 of its 16 tracks released as singles.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vultures_2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1821036513477656757
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/kanye-west-vultures-trailer-1235587098/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/nfr_podcast/status/1757931518435954736
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1758245764348969406?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/dondatimes/status/1759998992224575880?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1764413311737647475?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1765751852870553743?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1765749677146964023?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/yefanatics/status/1765981415127024022?s=20
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodAssSub/comments/1baec16/megathread_vultures_2_listening_party/
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1766389111877939323?s=46
- ↑ https://twitter.com/GoodAssSub/status/1766488367154311382
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Jasp3r_0/status/1766876020748034386
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/C4WIvgToX5D/?img_index=1
- ↑ https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/everything-went-kanye-west-ty-dolla-ign-s-vultures-2-listening-party-phoenix
- ↑ https://x.com/yefanatics/status/1767851404641669374?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/yefanatics/status/1768057155498741815?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/yefanatics/status/1768071827157356675?s=20
- ↑ https://twitter.com/GoodAssSub/status/1768834840579973291
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1768823161766699023?s=20
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodAssSub/comments/1bf5hu4/a_whole_different_show_including_a_marching/
- ↑ https://x.com/yefanatics/status/1770180110248734727?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/yefanatics/status/1770221051265359974?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/kanyestreams1/status/1770890927042642420?s=20
- ↑ https://hypebeast.com/2024/3/hypebeast-magazine-issue-33-the-systems-issue-ye-kanye-west-interview
- ↑ https://hiphopdx.com/news/kanye-west-fires-yesjulz-nda-violations
- ↑ https://hiphopdx.com/news/yesjulz-countersuing-kanye-west-complicit-firing
- ↑ https://6abc.com/kanye-west-wanted-to-shave-students-heads-at-donda-academy-lock-them-in-cages-lawsuit-claims/14609256/
- ↑ https://yeezy.com/products/like-that-remix
- ↑ https://x.com/CrAstro2/status/1781820370518966723
- ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/takeoff-featured-kanye-west-ty-dolla-sign-vultures-2-source-1235009767/
- ↑ https://x.com/kanyestreams1/status/1770890927042642420?s=20
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CknVCV-Iryo
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/1d5584e/infodump_from_luit_bout_vultures_2/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/kanye-west-ty-dolla-sign-vultures-listening-event-korea-1235726234/
- ↑ https://people.com/kanye-west-retiring-from-professional-music-according-to-rich-the-kid-8675961
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1810759369199698024
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodAssSub/comments/1e3p8kf/trigger_warning_s_word_ty_dolla_ign_says_vultures/
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1816618572904587483
- ↑ https://x.com/Rap/status/1818667216394764297
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodAssSub/comments/1egu1zc/vultures_2_august_2nd_has_been_removed/
- ↑ https://x.com/PloybertCorti/status/1819281915234451570
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodAssSub/comments/1e54d23/eness_rapper_who_did_ref_tracks_for_530_and/
- ↑ https://x.com/ausxtaylor/status/1819297779933692158?s=46
- ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/993584762289659964/1268887714699415654/IMG_6664.png?ex=66ae0f45&is=66acbdc5&hm=cd68accfe78b0c80c63c47ae5179268d9f63c01fe8613b30114f1c9be2f7b5a0&
- ↑ https://yeezy.com
- ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/993584762289659964/1269138199251517490/image.png?ex=66aef88e&is=66ada70e&hm=cb48e0f4fdba5f3265fede4982016a6eba2a1b34bfb901609a891b75403f695c&
- ↑ https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/993584762289659964/1269139451997716580/Screenshot_2078.png?ex=66aef9b8&is=66ada838&hm=7b0d7c5ce12adbf3063abac6b54dceca9dc84600d9ef5f64f2e7fc41227061b4&
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/0a1VkVqfKsJb23O3byWSMw?si=sBtH7lacTaKZfkDVYfceTw
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/album/2LaSVrn1EJc9ouFyp69g4e?si=CjsqgeyoSTCGq5Iq5RqTdQ
- ↑ https://x.com/yeunrlsd/status/1819936368623063196
- ↑ https://x.com/yeunrlsd/status/1819944190790291804
- ↑ https://x.com/jetfury/status/1819786165370622143?s=46&t=QP8JMCRXAZ0P2KuHs_b7KQ
- ↑ https://x.com/yeunrlsd/status/1819884609972101405
- ↑ https://x.com/dondatimes/status/1821036150527512812
- ↑ https://pillowcase.su/f/cc9c2ac242f17075c5711bd1a9426fe3
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3130iA7O98
- ↑ https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/744017-kanye-west-ty-dolla-sign-vultures-artwork-caspar-david-friedrich
- ↑ https://www.change.org/p/an-innocent-man-is-serving-a-life-sentence-for-a-crime-he-did-not-commit
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1766661025158533180?s=20
- ↑ https://x.com/GoodAssSub/status/1819575572613222658
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-14th-week-number-one-billboard-200-chart-1235750808/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/artist/kanye-west/chart-history/tlp/
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/artist/Kanye-West/chart-history/CNA
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vultures_2#Commercial_performance