Vultures 2

Ty’s soulfully melismatic voice remains an asset throughout, though as on his frequent guest spots with other artists, he feels rather anonymised. It all makes for another paradoxical West album: bloated and occasionally focused, tired and occasionally futurist, morally redundant with enough humanity to supply a fraction of redemption.

In its own perverse way, Vultures 2 is emblematic of 2024 — it is loud, brash, utterly devoid of substance and almost certain to be lauded as Kanye West’s latest masterpiece by his rabid legions of stans.

Vultures 2 feels like second helpings of a memorably distasteful meal. Despite Ye’s boast on “Time Moving Slow” that “I rewrote the ending,” it has fewer ear-grabbing samples than the first volume.

Vultures 2 represents a tipping point for West’s methodology of pushing the limits of a deadline, resulting in songs that sound either half-assed, such as the too-cutesy “Promotion,” or simply incomplete. Which, in some ways, might be the point: Like the first Vultures, this one leans more heavily on vibes and aesthetics than substance or emotion (other than self-pity, which is fully on display throughout “Husband”).