Photos courtesy of Danny Pleckham
CHICAGO — By now, Kanye West listening events have become an annual cultural phenomenon, and VULTURES RAVE Chicago was no different.
Fog covers the entire bowl of the United Center, so thick you can barely see the fans in front of you. Waves of “YEEZY” and “Kan-Ye” chants course throughout the area every other minute, as a sold-out Windy City crowd roared when their hometown hero and ¥$ collaborator Ty Dolla $ign emerge from the haze. There’s no empty space in sight; we’re locked shoulder to shoulder.
Yeezy, donning his now trademark Jason Vorhees hockey mask, and Ty Dolla climb atop the pyramid stage; fans stand motionless anticipating the first track of the night. It wasn’t until Ye’s daughter North West joined him on stage for “Talking / Once Again” that the blitz of cell phone lights parlayed the minimalistic VULTURES stage — surrounded by smoke and flags marked by the ¥$ emblem.
Ye and North embrace, sending her off as the boom of Ty Dolla’s voice rings on the hook of their instant classic “EVERYBODY.” The previously-teased “Get Paid” with Future shook the crowd like they were in the middle of a club, while other standout cuts like “Fuk Sumn” (featuring Playboi Carti and Travis Scott) the newly-premiered “CARNIVAL” with Rich The Kid and a fiery low-toned verse from Carti, and “PAPERWORK” with Quavo sent the stadium ablaze.
YG, Freddie Gibbs and Bump J joined Yeezy and Ty on stage for their respective tracks, however, it wasn’t all club jams and rap bangers. Kanye’s experimental production stole the show on the back half of the out-of-order tracklist — sampling Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” at one point, with witty yet controversial bars sparsed throughout. Compared the songs played at his DONDA listening events in 2022, the tracks on VULTURES sound just as cinematic, but feel completely fleshed out — especially with Ty Dolla commanding a majority of the hooks.
On “CARNIVAL,” Ye raps: “That’s ‘Me Too’ me rich / First she say she suck my d**k / Then, she say she ain’t suck my d**k / She ’gon take it up the a*s like a ventriloquist / I mean, since Taylor Swift, since I had the Rollie on the wrist / I’m the new Jesus, b***h, I turn water into Cris’ / This for what they did to Chris / They can’t do s**t with this.”
It wouldn’t be a Kanye West album without questionable quips like this. Conversations about Ye pulling off “the greatest comeback from being cancelled” scatter the masses exiting the UC. Regardless of what you think of Ye, it’s clear no matter how polarizing or controversial the VULTURES maestro is, he’ll always be relavent.
All three VULTURES volumes are set for release on Feb. 9, March 8 and April 5 respectively.