Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have come together once more for the new album Vultures 2. Their second ¥$ album, after February’s Vultures 1, is out now, and features guest spots from Young Thug, 070 Shake, Future, Playboi Carti, Kodak Black, Don Toliver, Lil Durk, and two of West’s children, North and Chicago. The new album is available below.
West and Ty Dolla $ign had long teased the second Vultures installment—since even before the first one dropped. West initially said the second and third installments would drop on March 8 and April 5, respectively; we have not heard much about the mooted third volume since then. He told Hypebeast, in March, that the albums would be released independently, through his own platforms, though Vultures 2 is also available on major digital streaming platforms. Vultures 1 went wide on streaming platforms upon its release in February.
Independence may be a mark of authenticity for West, as he put it in the Hypebeast interview, but it is also a marriage of convenience. Since the flurry of activity that included wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and posting that he wanted to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” West has lost his massive Adidas partnership, his contract with Creative Arts Agency, and plenty of commercial and cultural goodwill.
Late last year, he apologized to “the Jewish community,” saying, in part, “I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.” While the Anti-Defamation League welcomed the apology, the American Jewish Committee said it was “bizarre and possibly a ploy to gain more attention.” Some analyses suggested the apology may have been generated with artificial intelligence. West has since been pictured in a Burzum T-shirt, the band fronted by the disgraced black metal musician Varg Vikernes, the convicted murdered and perpetrator of racial hatred targeting Muslim and Jewish people.
While the critical reception of Vultures 1 was mixed and often negative, the album was fairly successfully commercially. It debuted atop the Billboard 200, and the song “Carnival,” a collaboration with Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 a few weeks after its initial release. West and Ty Dolla $ign also held several listening events surrounding Vultures 1 and headlined Rolling Loud California.
