Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign Finally Release ‘Vultures 1’ Album

After a long series of fakeouts that have become standard operating procedure for Kanye West releases, the embattled artist and Ty Dolla $ign have finally dropped their “Vultures 1” album. The release, which occurred sometime in the wee hours of Saturday morning, is curiously not available on Spotify, although it can be found on most other major streaming services.

Contributors to the new album include Lil Durk, Bump J, Freddie Gibbs, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Quavo, and West’s oldest daughter, North.

The album is apparently the first in a trilogy that was originally scheduled to drop on Thursday, with the second volume slated for March 8, and the third following on April 5 — but most if not all of West-related releases in recent years have arrrived later, often much later, than originally announced.

The album appears to be released under West’s Yzy brand, as none of the other usual record label credits appear; West’s career-long relationships with Def Jam Recordings and Sony Music Publishing were allowed to lapse in 2021 as the artist’s behavior became more controversial, climaxing (for the moment, anyway) last year with his long string of antisemitic comments that torpedoed most of his branding deals and alienated all but his biggest fans.

As was the case with West’s last full album, “Donda,” the release of “Vultures” was preceded by a series of public listening events in major cities, this time in Chicago and the New York City borough of Queens. The album does not appear to include the sample of a live Ozzy Osbourne recording of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” that enraged that artist and his manager-wife Sharon — which was used during the public listening sessions — who spoke out against West’s antisemitic comments and refused to clear the sample.

Variety‘s review of the album — which, also as usual, has changed with each public airing — will be publishing in the coming days.