Over the last decade, our emotional reaction to the release of a new Kanye West album has moved along what feels like a pretty natural path: From irritation— rooted in anticipation—to exhaustion, rooted in a sort of ever-mounting feeling of existential dread. Back in the ol’ Life Of Pablo
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And drop it has, as West and Ty Dolla $ign finally released their new album Vultures 1 earlier today, after weeks of build-up, listening parties, bizarre apologies, and some deep anger from Ozzy Osbourne and his family. (The offending sample from that last bit has reportedly been stripped from the album.) The album is now out on most of the major music streaming services although, per Variety, not on Spotify, for reasons we can’t even begin to speculate about. (But let’s: Sample issues? Distancing from the antisemitic comments? Some sort of complicated maneuvering vis a vis Spotify’s relationship with Taylor Swift? A random grudge over a 10-year-old Drake lyric? It could be anything.)
In case you’re playing the “Who’s still willing to put their name on a Kanye album?” game, the list of contributors on Vultures 1—allegedly the first installment of a “trilogy,” which we’ll believe when we see—reportedly includes Lil Durk, Bump J, Freddie Gibbs, Playboi Carti, Nipsey Hussle, YG, Travis Scott, and Quavo. (Plus West’s daughter, North, who appears on the track “Talking”) Oh, and Chris Brown, who appears on a song called “Beg Forgiveness” that includes lyrics like “You should be forgiveness/you should beg forgiveness of me,” and, you get what we’re saying about the exhaustion, right?