Over the weekend, the impossible happened. Hell froze over. The pigs can now fly. Shaquille O’Neal can shoot free throws. Kanye West actually dropped his collab album “Vultures 1” with Ty Dolla $ign on Saturday, after delaying the album for about 4 months.

First off, I just want to note that I have no idolization for this man or acceptance of who he is or what he condones. He’s…Kanye. Now let’s get into the music. 

I have been waiting for this album for about a year now, and I think it was worth the wait, even if it broke my heart 3 times when Kanye set a date and didn’t come through cough Donda? I’ve listened to the album about 6 times since Saturday. (UPDATE: What happened??)

The album cover is definitely…interesting. I can’t show it but it’s a picture of Ye and his wife but his wife is not exactly wearing something rated PG. Bruh. This was a surprise because Kanye had shown the album covers weeks before this, and it was a picture of a desert. But ok I guess.

This album also is set to be released in 3 parts, each part being around a month from each other.

Now let’s get into the songs. I’m gonna organize this by naming the top 5 best, followed by the worst. Honestly, I only think one song on the album is a complete miss, and all of the other songs are either fantastic or good. Ranking these are difficult and I’m sure my opinions are gonna change over time.

Let’s start with the top 5 most memorable.

Starting with 5)  GOOD (DON’T DIE) it kept a lot more of a late-night lower feel. Something I never expected out of a Kanye song. The song seems to be a vulnerable song for Ye, and the song is absolutely beautiful, especially with the vocals. I listened it on a late night drive, and it made it better. Ye’s and Ty’s vocals are just bone-chilling. So good. 9.5/10.

UPDATE: So, apparently this song got taken down on all streaming because Kanye didn’t ask permission for the sample. Bruh.

4)  BACK TO ME, featuring Freddie Gibbs, is another absolute fire track. This is a song that leaked months ago before the album was leaked, and this is the song that got me hype for this album. Ty Dolla’s vocals and Ye’s verses are just great, but in the second half of the song Ye gets a little…goofy. (If you listen to it you’ll understand.) But besides that, it’s a very well-produced song and just great, especially with Freddie Gibbs’ verse. 8.25/10.

3) CARNIVAL, featuring Playboi Carti and Rich the Kid, is supposedly the “best song on the album” according to other people, and I can see why. The production feels like something from Donda and Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and it’s extremely high in energy. It’s not amazing, but it’s really good. 8.25/10.

2) Chris Brown’s BEG FORGIVENESS surprised me. Reading the song name I expected something dark and something completely different than what we actually got. Chris Brown’s voice sounds dark but angelic, and this is for sure my second favorite song in the album. The second half of the album feels like something out of a movie, it’s sick. 9/10. 

1) BURN, the ninth song in the album, and in my opinion, the best song not only on the album, but possibly in Ye’s entire discography. This song originally wasn’t on the tracklist, but it seems like while Ye changed things around in his album lineup, he took some songs out and It seems he threw this one in to make up for the loss of the songs “New Body” and “Slide,” etc. Ty’s vocals and Ye’s verses, which give off a college dropout feel, just work so well and this song is stuck in my head. 10/10. My goodness. This song is going to be my #1 song on Spotify without a doubt. And I have no shame in admitting that.

Now, let’s get into the less memorable.

5) STARS, it’s a great album opener, but nothing extremely special. It gives off a small gospel vibe like in Donda and has great vocals from Ye and Ty Dolla. Honestly, I wish the song “Everybody” was the opener, the one that leaked months ago and had a sample of the Backstreet Boys’ song with the same name, but I’m assuming they never got the sample. I’ll give the song a solid 7.5/10. 

UPDATE: This song definitely grew on me, and now is one of my top 3 songs on the project.

4) PROBLEMATIC, is not really amazing. I don’t have a lot to say except the best is alright and the verses are interesting but fine. 7/10.

3) PAPERWORK featuring Quavo is… fine. It’s not bad, but it’s not amazing. It gives off a Donda / Yeezus / Life of Pablo-type feel. It’s an aggressive but nice song. Yet again, Ty’s vocals are great, Quavo does super well, and it’s just an okay song honestly. 7.5/10.

2) VULTURES, featuring Bump J and Lil Durk was the single that dropped back in November, and this song is just not good. Kanye’s verse goes hard and Ty’s too, but the instrumental is horrible. They added in Lil Durk’s verse, and it’s good, but everything is irrelevant because the song just sounds not good. 6.5/10. The Havoc version they released recently is slightly better though.

1) KEYS TO MY LIFE is in my opinion the worst song on the album and the worst Kanye song I have ever heard. It’s not on beat, and it’s just…awkward. However, Ty Dolla comes in to salvage it a little bit with some amazing vocals. I give it a 5/10.

UPDATE: Okay I hated a little too much on this, but it’s still not the best.

Honorable Mentions for the best: F** SUMN, featuring Travis Scott and Playboi Carti, is possibly the most hype song on the album and is produced extremely well. 9/10. DO IT featuring YG. This song is great. The instrumental and the vocals by the duo are just perfect. 8.5/10. No other words are needed. (They told me to sensor the word.)

After reviewing every song I think the album is about an 8/10, which is fair. There is a lot of small things I dislike, but a lot of big things I like, which makes it worth it. It’s not better than Donda personally, but it’s not the worst album he’s made. (Donda’s one of my favorite albums I know Noah Whitaker’s gonna hate me for saying that one.) Some people say that Ye is declining in song quality, and I can’t agree. At least he’s still making music despite all the things he does.