The most controversial rapper in the world – Kanye West – at the last moment postponed the release of the album Vultures, recorded together with Ty Dolla $ign. One of the possible reasons is copyright problems and protests from colleagues. However, fans were able to listen to most of the songs from the record – free and legally, including from Russia. Izvestia took advantage of this option and assessed the prospects for the return of ex-husband Kim Kardashian to the hip-hop Olympus.
Between scandals and creativity
For the last year and a half, the name Kanye West has appeared mainly not in texts about music and show business, but in news about scandals and tabloid reports. First, the rapper angered politically correct America with irony over the Black Lives Matter movement, then he turned the whole world against himself with anti-Semitic statements. And even when almost all of his business partners broke their contracts with him, including Adidas, which sold Yeezy sneakers, and the Def Jam Recordings label, where Kanye recorded almost all of his albums, the artist did not even think of repenting. On the contrary, he periodically added fuel to the fire with new statements.
In addition to that, Kanye's personal life is once again in the spotlight. After a high-profile divorce from Kim Kardashian and a short-term affair with Julia Fox, the rapper suddenly married again – on the daughter of former mafioso Bianca Censori. Having formalized the relationship, the couple went to Italy and began to shock others over and over again with their appearances: Ye’s companion paraded through the streets in outfits that practically did not hide her curvy figure. Well, the apotheosis was a gondola ride along the canals of Venice: right in front of the townspeople and tourists, Bianca decided to please her husband, after which both became persona non grata with the local water taxi services.
It seemed that the star had completely gone off the rails, and nothing good should be expected from Kanye in the foreseeable future. But – without any prior announcements, the artist suddenly releases a single with fellow artist Ty Dolla $ign. And it turns out that Mr. West not only did not sit idle, but, on the contrary, managed to prepare an entire album – Vultureswhich is about to be published.
And then the story with Donda almost exactly repeated itself, only with tragicomic elements: a release date was set – December 15, the record even became available for pre-order on Apple Music, Kanye organized a public audition for Vultures in Miami, but then information about the disc disappeared from streaming, and on Friday the public did not receive the drop. But a new presentation took place – this time in Las Vegas, on the night of the 15th (in Moscow it was day). But during the show, Kanye was plagued by technical problems, and after some time the broadcast simply turned off and never resumed. The show was reportedly interrupted by local police, who said the promoter did not have permission to hold the event.
Rights issues
There is no information yet when Vultures will reach the public. However, Thanks to these presentations, some of Kanye’s new work can still be appreciated. Thus, broadcasts from Miami and Las Vegas were available for listening to everyone registered on the artist’s official website yeezy.com. An interesting detail: the service was not at all confused by Russian phone numbers and postal addresses, that is, songs were available to fans from our country legally and free of charge. Against the backdrop of the news that Kanye invited Russian fashion designer Gosha Rubchinsky to be the chief designer of the Yeezy brand, this looks especially eloquent. Is West the leading fighter against cancel culture?
By the way, this is not the only provocation from Ye in recent days. His appearance on stage in Miami wearing a cone-shaped cap, like members of the Ku Klux Klan, caused a wide resonance. Well, he was accompanied by his own daughter North, who is now also a rapper, and you can hear her rapping on Vultures. An interesting question is whether her mother Kim Kardashian was embarrassed by the amount of profanity that the 10-year-old child heard that evening from her father and his comrades (in North’s own lines, however, there was no obscenity – and thank you for that).
There were also legal scandals. The first track, Everybody, demonstrated by Kanye, is based on the Backstreet Boys hit of the same name, and the band members claim that the rapper did not receive permission from them to use. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the delay in the publication of Vultures on streaming: without resolving the legal conflict, the track cannot be released, and without it, obviously, West does not want to show the record (it’s not for nothing that Vultures begins with it). A another reason could be Nicki Minaj's protest. Her verse appears in the composition New Body, however, the rapper recorded it a few years ago for a completely different Kanye album. Then the song was sent to the trash, and Now the artist, whose career is on the rise, is not at all delighted with the sudden revival of her partnership with the toxic Ye.
Anger feminists
In general, what to hide, Vultures has enough problems, and it’s not a fact that Kanye will be able to quickly resolve them. However, be that as it may, most of the music has already been made public and, in principle, the work of the newly formed duo can be fully appreciated. Perhaps, the album is inferior to the first Donda in scale and originality, and there are passable numbers. But at the same time, this is an inventive, high-quality work with the participation of a bunch of stars and a signature style collage (from rock and funk elements to dance music). In addition, even without preaching pathosannoying in the same Donda.
Let's name just a few of our favorites. This Bed Forgiveness features a dramatic low beat and Chris Brown's electrifying vocals. (the song is based on a composition by DJ Joe Goddard called Gabriel, but has little in common with the original). River with a guest rap from Young Thug and a gospel song at the end. Back To Me with its memorable chorus can also become a real hit. Unless a provocative text gets in the way: The authors offer to have sex with them for the sake of an interview and admit to a desire for busty naked women. Ten years ago this would not have bothered anyone, especially in hip-hop. But now it’s quite tempting to be accused of objectification. The same can be said about the already mentioned New Body with a verse from Nicki Minaj: Kanye here glorifies plastic surgery and tells his imaginary friend that he can’t wait to see her new body.
Along with the scandalous line from the title track – “How can I be an anti-Semite, because I slept with a Jew?” (in the original it was said more rudely) – all this leads to curses now from the femme community. As they say, Kanye still didn’t have enough of them. And yet I want to believe that the artist will still bring the matter to the end and allow the public – both fans and haters – to appreciate Vultures in its entirety. In the meantime, instead of a record, Ye released his signature black galosh socks. For $200. Well, gifts under the New Year's tree don't always make us happy…
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