Well well well, Kanye West actually dropped Vultures. 2 years ago now (what the fuck dude...) actually! I couldn't believe it actually came out either. To be quite honest I was having a great time relistening to it, and then "Carnival" came on and it all fell down.
And no, its not because of the TikTok Rizz Party, I'm over that, it's the big 26. The Hell of a Life flip is cool sure, but what the FUCK is West's verse? "They served us the porn, since the day we was born" like HELLO? Not only does he make remarks about Taylor Swift, the MeToo movement, ending it with a cut off line that is implied to be about Jewish people ("Got my kids in a fake school, we ain't..."). Actually no theres literally an unreleased version with him saying it. Not to mention the original verse wasn't much better either, if anything it might actually be worse. Ty Dolla $ign, Rich the Kid, and Playboi Carti did their thing yeah, but West's performance is so abysmal it genuinely ruins what would be a hype song.
Okay, rant about one song over. If I had to be positive, there are some highlights on the album! "Stars" makes for a great intro track, "Keys To My Life" is surprisingly underrated in my opinion, and "Talking" is a fun song with West's daughter North that ends with amazing vocals from Ty Dolla $ign. "Burn" is an amazing return to form for West, even if brief, and "Vultures" has a really cool beat in my opinion. Unfortunately, for everything done right there was a compromise or something done wrong.
Let's start with "Stars." Not only was the guitar at the end cut on the released version, plus this line I think says enough: "Keep a few Jews on the staff now." Really? That's the most clever thing you could come up with? Come on...
"Paid" is another good song ruined by West's performance. I get the high-pitched mumble voice was intentional, but given how much of his released music has mumble in it, it's tiring. I prefer it over AI vocals though (looking at you, VULTURES 2), but that's not saying a lot.
"Back To Me" has such amazing production, and all West says in his verse is pretty much just "Beautiful big titty butt naked women just don't fall out the sky you know" repeated over and over. It's funny the first time, maybe not the fifth. Especially knowing theres a cut Quavo verse along with the potential for an actual verse from West. Missed potential to its max.
"Fuk Sumn" had JPEGMAFIA production on some versions, yet that was scrapped for a more minimal version. Another Quavo verse was also scrapped, and what we were left with is a neutered version of what could have been with even more West vocals pitched up, sounding almost Alvin and the Chipmunks-esque, and not in a good way. Come on, you know Ant Clemons could record vocals for you right if you really didn't want Ty Dolla $ign to do it? Hell theres a version with Clemons for a post-album remix that never came out, that still cut off and included the Alvin vocals.
"Vultures" has such a cool beat, even the Havoc version, yet West just had to reference Jewish people on another lyric. "I just fucked a Jewish bitch" like okay??? Congratulations on the fact there are some that still fuck with you???
I think the rest of the album is kinda forgettable to the point of not needing to be mentioned. "Paperwork" is a bad attempt at West on a phonk beat gone wrong. "Problematic" isn't bad, just kind of forgettable. "Beg Forgiveness" is also good but I think it drags on a little long for what it's worth (and is absurdly loud for some reason), with "King" finishing off the album on the "crazy, bipolar, antisemite / and I'm still the king" vibes. Definitely an interesting album.
Overall? Not bad, its a fun listen but the lows are definitely low. Not VULTURES 2 low, but a sign for things to come for sure. I'm really disappointed in how Vultures turned out to be completely honest, I think one cohesive album like the original plan would have been way cooler. But we have what we have and I can only judge it on that.