HIP-HOP/R&B
Ye and Ty Dolla Sign, “Vultures 1″ (YZY)
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is forever testing loyalty, which is a polite way of saying that he often leans into odiousness, never more so than in the past 16 months, which have been peppered with bursts of antisemitic remarks and revelations about similar past behavior.
Hundreds of thousands of fans, or millions, have boarded the train, sending “Vultures 1″ to No. 1 — in part because public opinion can be elastic, but also because even in this era of Ye, glimmers of an older Kanye remain.
It’s what makes listening to “Vultures 1″ both uncanny and unnerving. Lyrically, Ye only addresses his recent troubles in glances, no-stakes responses to a high-stakes game: “Keep a few Jews on the staff now,” he shrugs on “Stars.” On “Vultures,” he makes a crass sexual remark to assure that he can’t be antisemitic.
Much of “Vultures 1″ is like this — full of puerile punchlines that might feel freeingly childlike had they arrived at lower intensity moments. But in the context of Ye’s recent behaviors, they come off as almost distressingly glib.
Ye is almost exclusively rapping in the clipped, nonlinear style he’s largely used for the past decade — short bursts of words, verses that have very little narrative cohesion. It salts a track with his essence, with a minimum of emotional commitment. (”Beg Forgiveness,” on which he’s practically howling, is a notable exception.)
Where “Vultures 1″ makes more sense is in its production, which is scabrous and tense, moodily emotive and urgent. The music says things the words don’t, or can’t.
