Is Ye Back?: Head-to-Head opinions on Kanye “Ye” West’s new album “Vultures I”

Ye’s Back and Better Than Ever

Eight platinum records, 1.5 billion dollars lost, one presidential campaign and arguably the most difficult opponent in two truths, one lie — ”Ye”  West (He actually has 10 platinum records). 

Now, after a year of controversy trying to convince people that Hitler was a good person, he has released “Vultures I.”

During the first listen, you can tell it’s definitely a Kanye album. He has rarely conformed to traditional music standards. Still, this project is crazy even for him — Aggressive Brazilian Phonk sample in “PAPERWORK,” his daughter, North West, dropping her first bars in “TALKING” and obscene lyrics that make you question his sanity. 

No matter what, he just can’t be normal, he has to do something weird. Just like how he ruined the song “Lift Yourself” in 2018 with lyrics consisting of “poopity scoop, scoopy poo-whoop,” he made “BACK TO ME” with a chorus of “Beautiful, big-t****, butt-naked women don’t fall out of the sky.”

But that’s how Kanye was able to change the music industry.

Back in 2017, most artists were mumble rapping over weak drums and obnoxious bass, but Kanye was mixing up gospel choir samples to make some of the best songs, like in “Father Stretch My Hands.” And that’s why he’s one of the best — he can do what no other artist can because he isn’t afraid to do it. 

His work on “Vultures I” is no different. 

After you get through the first listen, you can tell that the songs are weird — but despite their oddities, I instantly knew that they were classics. I quickly fell in love with the twelfth track, “CARNIVAL.” Its hook from a cheering soccer stadium perfectly set the mood of the song, and when the 808s started roaring, I instantly knew that this song would be a classic. 

Another favorite was “BACK TO ME;” though the lyrics are so wildly idiotic, he’s able to mix them in with the rest of the song, keeping it stuck in my head.

I also recommend “BURN” — a calmer, up-tempo R&B song that offers a break from the more aggressive songs on the album — and “DO IT” — a more traditional rap song that sounds more like A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie than Kanye.

Though he made a great album, he’s a horrible person and he shouldn’t be forgiven for the comments he has made. But whether you like him or not his songs will still be blaring in frat houses for years to come.

He Should Stick to Fashion.

Kanye West released his bizarre and mediocre new album “Vultures 1”on Feb. 9. His new music features artists Ty Dolla $ign, Playboi Carti and even West’s daughter, North. It’s an absolute fever dream to listen to.

Prior to this, I had never listened to any of Kanye’s music, and I queued it up in Spotify not knowing what to expect. What I discovered was overall confusion, mild disgust and disappointment.

As someone who had never listened to more than a few seconds of a Kanye song prior to “Vultures 1,” I was baffled when I started it. There are a lot of odd sampling and musical choices such as beats driven by vocals that do not match Kanye’s like the intro to the opening track “STARS” and “TALKING” and quickly changing music, sometimes to the extent that one song doesn’t sound like a single piece of music.

 For some tracks like “KEYS TO MY LIFE” and “TALKING,”  the ending of the song completely blends with the beginning of the next one, leading to an experience that’s more disorienting than enjoyable.

Music aside, my first impression of Kanye’s vocals wasn’t great. He has a decent voice, but it sounds a bit generic as the way he sings is neither unheard of nor fantastic and altogether makes for a pretty bland album when combined with the out-of-place musical choices.

On my second listen, it was easier to appreciate the tracks-not the horrendous lyrics about misogyny, anti-Semnitism and general vulgarity.  Aside from those terrible aspects, there are some songs that sound good music-wise. An example of this is the incidental music and beat to “BACK TO ME”, although every other part of the track is really weird, there are some alright seconds there at the beginning. 

My final opinion of “Vultures 1” is mixed. The pervasively gross lyrics make me hesitant to continue listening to Kanye and his music, as I feel the generic nature of the songs does not outweigh the themes. On the other hand, some of the purely musical parts are really well done like the beat of “CARNIVAL”. While I probably won’t start consistently listening to Kanye, I can respect his talent for creating decent- sounding tracks.