Vultures 2

Vultures 2
Studio album by ¥$
Released	August 3, 2024 (2024-08-03)
Recorded	2015–2016 2019 2023–2024
Genre	Hip hop R&B trap
Length	50:26
Label	YZY
Producer	Ye Ty Dolla Sign 30 Roc 88-Keys Adam Vadel Apollo Parker ATL Jacob Audiovista AyoAA Azul BoogzDaBeast Dez Wright Digital Nas E.Vax Flex on the Beat FnZ Foreverrolling Fred Again Fya Man Havoc James Blake John Cunningham JPEGMafia the Legendary Traxster Lester Nowhere London on da Track Mattazik Muzik Nathan Butts Nico Baran Ojivolta Pi'erre Bourne Ryderoncrack Scott Bridgeway SHDØW TheLabCook Timbaland Veyis Wheezy
¥$ chronology
Vultures 1 (2024) Vultures 2 (2024) Vultures 3 (2024)
Kanye West chronology
Vultures 1 (2024) Vultures 2 (2024) Vultures 3 (2024)
Ty Dolla Sign chronology
Vultures 1 (2024) Vultures 2 (2024) Vultures 3 (2024)
Singles from Vultures 2
"Slide" Released: August 2, 2024

Vultures 2 is the second studio album by the American hip hop supergroup ¥$, composed of the rapper Kanye West and the singer Ty Dolla Sign. It was surprise released independently by the former's YZY brand on August 3, 2024. Guest appearances include West's daughters North and Chicago West, Ty Dolla Sign's older brother Big TC (whose portrait picture is featured on the album cover), Playboi Carti, Don Toliver, Kodak Black, Future, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Young Thug, 070 Shake, Desiigner and CyHi, while Peso Pluma, Kodak Black (for the second time), Kid Cudi and Travis Scott are featured through the five different digital deluxe edition tracks. Production on the album was primarily handled by West and Ty themselves, alongside the Legendary Traxster, Digital Nas, Wheezy, London on da Track, AyoAA, BoogzDaBeast, FnZ, among others.

West and Ty began composing the album with collaborators after the release of its predecessor, but the album was delayed several times. West initially attempted to distribute Vultures 2 on his Yeezy website and previews of the album began appearing on social media by mid-March. The cover art was released in June and Ty confirmed a listening event in South Korea for August 23, 2024, which bookended a short-lived retirement announcement by West. In July, West confirmed the album would be released on August 2, 2024 but it did not meet its scheduled release date: it was surprise-released a day later. Post-release listening events in Salt Lake City on August 9 and Taiwan on August 25 were later announced.

Vultures 2 continues to feature most of the themes present on its predecessor, exploring money, relationships, sex, and fame, although some songs discuss family and marriage. The album was supported by the single "Slide", which was released on the same day as the album but only a few hours before its release. The album received negative reviews from critics upon release regarding it sounding unfinished and West allegedly using artificial intelligence to record his parts for some songs,^[1] with him and Ty rolling out several updates to multiple songs in the following days. A sequel album, Vultures 3, is set for a release in late 2024. West and Ty are scheduled to embark on a world tour in support of the album and its predecessor from 2024 to 2025.

On January 23, 2024, West revealed that a Vultures series would be released as a trilogy, with the first being released in February, the second on March 8, and the final on April 5.^[2] Vultures 1, the first part of the album, released on February 10, had a slight delay and went on to reach number one on the Billboard 200 as well as in numerous other countries.^[3] On February 25, Timbaland, who also worked on Vultures 1, announced that the second installment was "on the way".^[4] On March 3, French Montana announced his involvement and shared a clip of him and the duo in the recording studio.^[5] After the album had not come out on its scheduled release date of March 8, West announced that Vultures 2 was still in the works as he and Ty Dolla Sign were still "in the lab".^[6][7] West and Ty Dolla Sign held a private listening party on the scheduled date with a DJ setting, where the rapper was joined by his partner Bianca Censori.^[8]

On March 9, West announced the album and revealed its original artwork through his Twitter account.^[9] The cover features a masked Ty Dolla Sign dressed in all black holding an image of his brother, Jabreal "Big TC" Muhammad, who is currently serving a life sentence for a murder the brothers claim he did not commit.^[10] On March 10, in a conversation with a Kanye West fan page, West mentioned that he would be selling Vultures 2 on the Yeezy website for $20 instead of releasing it on streaming platforms like Vultures 1.^[11] He stated this decision was made so "We won't have the streaming companies in control of the artist anymore".^[12] On March 14, 1-minute previews of the Vultures 2 tracks were released on TikTok and Instagram under West's account.^[13] West and Ty Dolla Sign later announced a new release date of May 3, during their interview with Justin LaBoy on his The Download podcast. Rolling Stone also confirmed the track, titled "Let Me Chill Out", featuring the late rapper Takeoff.^[14] Despite the announcement, the album did not release on May 3.^[15]

Ty Dolla Sign appeared on the cover of the Billboard June 22, 2024, issue.^[16] Ty Dolla Sign played the interviewee a couple of the album's tracks, hinting at the release of the album in the upcoming days: "We got all the songs. Basically, it's just like, 'How can we get it there? How can we go bigger than the first album?'".^[16] On July 6, Ty Dolla Sign posted an official announcement of a listening event scheduled for August 23 in South Korea on Instagram.^[17] In the same week, West claimed he retired from professional music via fellow collaborator Rich the Kid's Instagram story. This retirement lasted roughly 30 minutes before a track with rapper Consequence titled "No Apologies" was announced to release on July 12.^[18] On July 30, West announced through his website that all orders placed on yeezy.com had been fulfilled and shipped out, and that the album would release on August 2, 2024. However, hours later, the release date was removed from his website; the album released on August 3, 2024.^[19][20]

Vultures 2 was released to streaming services independently through West's YZY brand on August 3, 2024. The album was released on an unlisted YouTube livestream on West's YouTube channel, and on Tidal.^[21] The album was later released on Spotify and Apple Music.^[22]

On August 2, the lead single for Vultures 2, titled "Slide" released on West's Yeezy website alongside streaming services with an updated cover art for the album.^[23][24][25]

The music video for "Fried" was released on August 7.^[26]

Following its initial release, Vultures 2 sustained several updates over the following days: West previously updated Yeezus (2013)^[27], The Life of Pablo (2016), and Donda (2021)^[28][29] after their initial releases. "Field Trip" and "Fried" received changes to their effects unit, adlibs, and equalization. "Fried" was also shortened. "Isabella" was shortened by one second, "Maybe" was retitled to "Forever" and shortened by 50 seconds, with changes to its outro and vocal mixing, and "Sky City" received added reverb on the verses, and changes to the mixing, effects, and drums, while baseline and distortion were added.^[30] "River" also received several changes, including restoring mix and production from leaked versions of the song, while "530" received additional vocals while "Dead" received an updated mix. "My Soul" received major structural changes to the placement of vocals and its drums.^[31][32] West announced that "updated songs will be published in real time", with no specified conclusion to potential revisions to the songs.^[33] On August 7, 2024, a digital deluxe edition of the album featuring a bonus track titled "Take Off Your Dress" was released on yeezy.com for $5.^[34] The day after, four more deluxe editions featuring the tracks "Believer", "Gun to My Head" featuring Kid Cudi, "Drunk" featuring Kodak Black and Bad Bunny, and "Can U Be" featuring Travis Scott, were also released.^[35][36]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	40/100[37]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Guardian	[38]
HipHopDX	[39]
Rolling Stone	[40]
Slant Magazine	[41]

Vultures 2 received negative reviews from critics. According to Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album currently has an average score of 40, based on four reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[37]

Billboard's Michael Saponara wrote: "While there's plenty of potential for greatness scattered throughout the project filled with West's avant-garde production, at times V2 is derailed by sound quality issues, unfinished thoughts or portions when Ye's rapping dips".^[42] Gabriel Bras Nevares of HotNewHipHop said that "this album's greatest flaw is its hollow execution".^[43]

Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian said that Vultures 2 is "bloated and occasionally focused, tired and occasionally futurist, morally redundant with enough humanity to supply a fraction of redemption".^[44] Paul Attard of Slant Magazine said that "one expects a Kanye West album to be incomplete in some way upon release, but Vultures 2, his second collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, is in shambles".^[45]

Vultures 2 debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 after a six-day tracking period, scoring West's second-lowest first week sales with 107,000 album-equivalent units.^[46] The units consisted of 46,000 streaming-equivalent units, 60,500 pure album sales, and 500 track-equivalent units.^[47] The album also accumulated a total of 50.44 million on-demand streams of the album's songs.^[47] Vultures 2 broke West's record as the rapper with the most consecutive number-one debuts, tied with Jay-Z.^[47]

• "Time Moving Slow", "Fried", and "River" features additional vocals from Curva Nord Milano ultras.
• "Forever" was previously titled "Maybe".
• "River" features additional vocals from Charlie Wilson.
• “Sky City“ features additional vocals from The-Dream and Ant Clemons.
• "My Soul" features additional vocals from Todd Rundgren and the Sunday Service Choir.
• “Drunk“ features additional vocals from Bad Bunny.
• "Take Off Your Dress" was added as a separate deluxe track on August 7, 2024.^[48]
• "Believer", "Drunk", "Gun to My Head", and "Can U Be" were also added as separate deluxe tracks on August 8, 2024, resulting in five different deluxe versions in total.^[49]

• "Field Trip" contains samples of "Machine Gun", as performed by Portishead.
• "Lifestyle" contains samples of "Love Is Gone", as performed by Nico Baran, and “The New Style”, as performed by the Beastie Boys.
• "Forever" contains samples of "Maybe", as performed by Kettenkarussell.
• "River" contains samples of "River", as performed by Leon Bridges.
• "530" contains samples of "Break the Fall (Acoustic)", as performed by Swsh.
• "Sky City" contains an interpolation of "O-o-h Child", as performed by Five Stairsteps.
• "Take Off Your Dress" contains samples of "Please Make It Good Again", as performed by Talmadge Armstrong.
• "Gun to My Head" contains samples of "Blindside", as performed by Alice Merton
• "Can U Be" contains samples of "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", as performed by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, "Haunted", as performed by Rob (FRA), "Glide", as performed by Pleasure, "National Anthem", as performed by Keith Hudson, and dialogue from the movie, Silver Linings Playbook, as performed by John Ortiz and Bradley Cooper