Despite new release ‘vultures’ circling once invincible figure of Kanye
“I miss the old Kanye, straight from the ‘Go Kanye. Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye. I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye. The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye.” It’s been 20 years since Kanye West’s first album, The College Dropout, and during most of Kanye’s career, he has always been a polarizing figure with his unfiltered expression of himself online. Every album rollout, there is controversy involved, most recently his outlandish tendencies have only been amplified due to his recent separation from Kim Kardasian. In October 2022, after their divorce, many clothing collaborators cut ties with Kanye after a series of antisemitic statements, including praising Hitler and denying the holocaust. Kanye’s controversy overshadows his newest album with poor taste as he refers to himself as the ‘king’ after these prejudicial remarks. This album is Kanye’s attempt to claw his way back to the spotlight of mainstream media through the Vultures trilogy, starting with VULTURES 1.
The album opens with a short, but strong opening track. The echoing choir during the beginning of the song, paired with eerie howling of wind within the track “STARS,” allows the audience to experience a cosmic journey, where they venture the ordinary and transcend to the realm of glory. This song feels like the beginning of Kanye’s career with him trying to achieve the goal of reaching the stars metaphorically. The major problem with this track, seen through multiple other tracks, is the lack of lyrical ingenuity. There are too many songs within the album that seem vocally repetitive and take away from the track, one of the worst being “PAID”.
This track is essentially Ty Dolla $ign repeating the same thing for the chorus, only interrupted by a small verse. This makes the flow of the song sound off-putting, which can be heard when Kanye enters the arena and weirdly has staccato lyrics that makes it feel too disconnected from previously established smoothness of the melody. Kanye also seemingly ruins many tracks by the addition of unneeded verses; the random interjection of 1978 Police hit “Roxanne” is unnecessary, adds very little to the song, and, again, kills the flow, which makes this song a hard one to return to.
Another instance of Kanye doing too much on a specific track is on “BACK TO ME.” Overall, this song is good, Dolla $ign improves his performance with the addition of a catchy chorus that makes the song enjoyable. It isn’t until Kanye repeats the same Jay and Silent Bob verse nine times where the song gets monotonous. The problem isn’t necessarily the verse because it plays into the theme, but how annoying it is that Kanye keeps repeating himself on the same lyrics. Later in the track, Freddie Gibbs’ verse is how the song should have been. He plays into the sample without it being overkill and his amazing, rhythmic flow doesn’t kill the beat. Kanye’s impression on the music he creates is overall his choice, but his decisions go overboard with his presence almost wrecking otherwise great songs by adding bridges that don’t sound appealing, like the Alvin and the Chipmunks-sounding Kanye verse on another track.
The opposite sentiment, in a place where Kanye thrives, is the track “BURN.” This song has a refreshing vibe that makes it distinct from the rest of the album. The beautiful instrumental and melodious flow is reminiscent of a much older Kanye. The only track that would rival “BURN” musically is “PROBLEMATIC”. This track gives an introspective of Kanye’s mind, showcasing his larger-than-life persona and the consequences it has. This approach reminds the audience of the vulnerability Kanye can have, heard from his previous album Ye that hasn’t been explored since.
The saving grace of this album is definitely the features and production heard in the second half of “BEG FORGIVENESS,” as well as, “CARNIVAL.” The second half to “BEG FORGIVENESS,” after the lengthy repetition, is produced flawlessly. The shift to a jazzy bass instrumental allows for this track to excel, the beat repetition that accompanies the bass is not overdone and adds flavor to the track. “CARNIVAL” (#1 song in spotify’s top 100 globally), Kanye’s highest charting song in 15 years, rivals feature-mate Travis Scott’s song, “FE!N”. The inclusion of Inter-Milan ultras vocals that mimic FIFA chants allow for the potential for this track to become a great concert song. The energy of the track during the “Hell of a Life” sample and Playboi Cardi’s verse allows listeners to feel ‘larger than life’, similarly to how Kanye and Dolla $ign approach it to be.
This album is decent, but definitely not his best collaborative work. Kanye’s influence put some tracks down with unwitty lyrics, which were usually about sex or current controversies, egotistical interjections, and bad mixing that drowns out artists, heard on “HOODRAT,” which limits the potential of this album. With that being said there are good takeaways as well. The Ye model connects the audience to the artist more, tracks like “TALKING” and “PROBLEMATIC” revisits this theme very well, talking about human sin and the consequences of such. The overlying factor is the production and features that allowed some tracks to shine, with being enjoyable enough to relisten to.
Letter Grade: C+
Blurb: Soaring highs but annoying lows, this album provides an eclectic mix of past Kanye works, but overall a step down from DONDA
by Conner LaCosse
Published February 26, 2024
Oshkosh West Index vol 120 issue V