The first installment of Kanye's collaborative project with Ty Dolla $ign under the ¥$ banner, Vultures 1 arrived amid significant controversy following a series of public antisemitic statements. Despite the surrounding chaos, the album debuted at #1 and demonstrated Kanye's continued ability to create commercially compelling music. "Carnival" became one of the year's biggest rap tracks, driven by a viral beat and a Playboi Carti feature.
Deep Dive
Background
Vultures 1 arrived as the first release under the ¥$ banner — a collaborative project between Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign — following one of the most turbulent periods of Kanye's public life, including widely condemned antisemitic statements that cost him several major business partnerships. Recording sessions took place across multiple locations and accumulated a large body of material from which the album's fourteen tracks were drawn. The album's rollout was comparatively low-key by Kanye's recent standards, and its commercial success — debuting at #1 — was read by many observers as evidence of the gap between public controversy and listener behavior.
Themes
Vultures 1 is less conceptually weighted than most of Kanye's catalog — it is an album about pleasure, style, and the act of making music with a collaborator who brings out a different register. The title's metaphor runs through it: picking over the bones of a career in crisis, finding what remains worth keeping.
Production
The collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign gave the album a smoother, more melodic surface than recent Kanye projects — Ty's vocal warmth and ear for pop structure softened the harder edges of Kanye's recent sonic palette. The production incorporates samples, live instruments, and a range of guest contributions that give the album a textural variety its predecessors sometimes lack.
Legacy
'Carnival,' featuring Playboi Carti, became one of the year's biggest rap tracks and demonstrated that Kanye's commercial instincts remained sharp. The album's ability to debut at #1 amid extensive coverage of its surrounding controversies will be studied for years as a case study in how audiences engage with commercially driven art in the context of public moral failure.
Best For
For listeners who want the fun and kinetic side of Kanye's range — less concept, more groove.
Fun Fact
The album's title is a deliberate reference to the vultures Kanye felt were circling during his period of public crisis — critics, former partners, and media figures — and the ¥$ branding incorporates both Kanye's and Ty's initial letters as a statement of joint ownership.
Tracklist — 14 songs
Sample Map — 1 source
Era — Donda Era (2021–2026)
The Donda era is defined by grief, controversy, and an increasingly anti-institutional relationship with the music industry. The sprawling Donda invoked his late mother as a spiritual anchor across 27 tracks; Donda 2 was distributed only via proprietary hardware. The ¥$ Vultures albums with Ty Dolla $ign arrived amid the most intense public backlash of his career following antisemitic remarks, yet still debuted at #1 — a testament to the stubborn commercial gravity of his catalog even as his cultural position became increasingly fraught. BULLY (2026) represents a new confrontational chapter, channeling the raw energy of Yeezus into a post-Vultures artistic reset.
Also in this era
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