Kanye West doesn’t care anymore. He’s eager to offend anyone and everyone — Hitler being the exception — and determined to destroy his legacy as one of the greatest emcees of all time. His latest disaster, “Vultures 2” (out now), is the nail in the coffin.
The album, a sequel to February’s almost-but-not-quite-as-bad “Vultures 1,” reteams West, 47, with Ty Dolla $ign, who, for better or worse, feels like an afterthought throughout its 50 sluggish minutes. Sure, Ty, 42, starts the project off strong with the ominous “Slide” and later delivers a memorable interpolation of the Five Stairsteps’ ever-catchy classic “O-o-h Child” on “Sky City,” but he otherwise fades into the background, letting his polarizing partner take center stage. But do we really want Ye in the spotlight in 2024? Certainly not when his bars are as cringe as “Reach for the popcorn / Oops, that’s my c–k.
” Not even West’s daughters , North, 11, and Chicago, 6, can save “Vultures 2.” Their scream-singing feature on “Bomb” is far from endearing; in fact, it makes for the most unlistenable song of their dad’s once-respected discography. The lowest moment on the album, though, is “530,” which finds the Grammy-winning rapper slurring his words while mourning his marriage to the girls’s mother, Kim Kardashian.
(The former couple, who divorced in 2022 , also share sons Saint, 8, and Psalm, 5.) West bemoans “ visitations on FaceTime ” before going completely off the rails in the second half of the track, repeatedly saying, “You don’t really love Ye / Go listen to Drake , bitch.” It’s like eavesdropping on the world’s most uncomfortable therapy session.
Much of “Vultures 2” could pass as leftovers from its predecessor — most notably “Fried,” which recycles the chants from the chart-topping “Vultures 1” single “Carnival” in a shoddy attempt at another smash. All in all, the record is a disjointed, unpolished mess of a fever dream that “Late Registration,” “Graduation” and “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” should be insulted to be in the same catalog as. At least Ye can only go up from here with “Vultures 3” .
.. right?.
