Kanye West waits for no one. Fans experienced this at the world premiere of “Vultures,” the long-awaited collaboration with Ty Dolla Sign as ¥$. Just a day after he premiered his Project Gorilla-style kit at a Jamaican restaurant in Miami, he took over Wynwood Marketplace in the same city for Vulture’s Rave, which was scheduled to start at midnight. .
About two and a half hours later, Kanye West and Ty finally took the spotlight as stagehands struggled to connect West’s phone to the audio system. Viewers at home watched it all unfold in real time as a stream on YouTube crashed and restarted multiple times until broadcast. Tickets for attendees were $200 for general admission, $600 for VIP and $10,000 for a table.
Fans and viewers at home were treated to around 10 songs from the project which was reportedly released this Friday. To deliver the full experience, the duo tapped the album’s guest stars to join them on stage, including artists including Chris Brown, Offset, Kodak Black, Lil Dirk, Bump J, Freddie Gibbs and West’s daughter North. A group of (Those hoping for an appearance from Playboy Carty were cut short, as he was on a plane ride that didn’t come down in time.)
What fans experienced was a quick preview of the low-quality and unfinished pieces that have been drabbled out recently. West devotees were likely already familiar with opening track “Everybody,” which he previewed on social media last week and played as an interpolation of the Backstreet Boys’ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” . Instead of just ripping a sample from the boy band, the song features a remixed chorus by Charlie Wilson, who joins West, Ty and Lil Baby on the track.
Kanye West daughter North gets her moment to shine on “Slide,” where she tests her rap skills with a tie-over featuring her father and a James Black sample. “It’s gonna be messed up, just bless me / It’s your bestie, Miss Westie,” she raps.
North West wasn’t the only one of the kids to show up, as Kim Kardashian stood by her kids and cleaned up the stage before the performance. (Visitors on social witnessed the Saint slaying IShowSpeed’s needle dance.)
“Vultures” is an album that seems to have an audio through-line, with breaking synth bass notes and fast tempos. West and Ty leave plenty of room for featured artists, and there are plenty of them.
Nicki Minaj dropped a verse on the highly anticipated finished version of “New Body,” while Gibbs delivered a show-stopping guest turn on “Back to Me,” produced by longtime West collaborator 88-Keys.
On the latter, they sampled a clip from the movie “Dogma” where co-star Jason Meos says, “Beautiful, tall women don’t just fall from the sky, you know,” which West repeated.
There’s a sprinkling of house music on “Payback” while Brown takes over most of the room on “Begging for Forgiveness.” “River” plays as an homage to Young Thug, who is currently on trial and features on the track, and Ty cleans up at the end with an interpolation of the Leon Bridges song of the same name.
Kanye West is no stranger to controversy, and has already come under fire for a line snippet on “Vulture” where he says, “How anti-Semitic I am, I just fucked a Jewish bitch.” ” It comes in a series of anti-Semitic comments over the past year, and he doesn’t shy away from the conversation. As the song played, West donned a black Klansman hat and fanned the flames, pausing at the end of the song to look at the audience.
Although less a performance and more a showcase, the evening ended abruptly when the clock struck 3 a.m. in Miami. The venue shut down the speakers, and for one last lick, West repeated the line from “Vulture” over the mic. As the crowd filed out, West made his way through the crowd, seemingly pleased with himself.
