I, along with others, had little hope for Kanye’s new release. While Vultures 1 had a turbulent reaction from the media (much like the man who made it), it still wasn’t enough to deter his loyal following. The only miraculous thing about this album is that even his most devoted fans cannot deny the mediocrity; with a half-finished production, lazy mixing, and lyrics that are frankly embarrassing for a 47-year-old man to be writing. The whole thing comes across like a complete cash-grab. Of course, the album is a collaboration, but Ty Dolla $ign seems to take a backseat throughout the project. In Vultures 1, he was the only one putting up a good performance yet here he barely features; even when he does feature it’s usually a sexually-charged lyric that makes you recoil (e.g. “I know some young throat G.O.A.T.s in L.A. (Suck, suck, suck)”).

The opening is fairly promising with some classic Kanye production featuring some striking organs and a looped “get up!”. The arrangement is done beautifully with some old-school lyrics over the top: “Industry don’t like me, tell them likewise”. After ‘Slide’ is ‘Time Moving Slow’, an immediate regression. The verses are choppy and feel like filler — this same mistake is made in the 3rd third verse of ‘Forever’ which reads more like a reference verse than a finished product. Perhaps the most saddening example of this laziness though is ‘530’. The song starts off originally well written and vulnerable but quickly becomes a metaphor for Kanye’s career; creating a song with great potential and then he himself spoiling it. It ends with the mumbling of nonsensical lyrics like “Huh-fuh, from the whole in, duh-duh, goin’ up with the thunder”, the whole thing was a massive letdown from what could’ve been the standout song from the album.

‘Husband’ is easily the worst moment from the album though, with atrocious vocals from Kanye, that he subjects us to again at the end of ‘Lifestyle’. The song is quite clearly the worst of his discography and comes across as just another song uncomfortably written about his ex-wife.

The mixing and production are unfinished and lazy. ‘Fried’ reuses the Inter Milan Ultras sound from Vultures 1, except this time it’s looped over basic-sounding 808’s and has nowhere near the same impact it had on ‘Carnival’. Another unambitious shortcut is made in ‘Skycity’ as Kanye’s voice is replicated using AI despite CyHi having the reference verse already written and laid out for him. ‘Dead’ loops Future’s “Cook up the yay’, make it jump out the gym” to such a distorted amount that it makes you question whether or not your phone is glitching. ‘Field Trip’ features an incredibly obnoxious base throughout, and 070 Shake’s vocals at the end of ‘Skycity’ are ruined with too much echo and reverb. While some of these decisions can be put down to stylistic choice, the mixing simply cannot.

‘My Soul’ has isolated audio for the vocals, playing only in the left ear if you are wearing headphones. Lil Wayne has a lyrically questionable performance on ‘Lifestyle’, yet you can’t hear it over the sound of the sample. The whole album begins to feel patronising to the listener, as though they expect no one to notice the terrible choices made throughout. Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign are aware that they are sought-after artists and thus expect fans to accept any work given to them with little respect for the audience. As someone who religiously listened to 808’s & Heartbreak growing up, the artistic trajectory that Kanye has gone on in recent years is saddening, this album is not one to revisit.

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