More controversially, Vultures is West’s first release coming off all that Nazi shit he’s been up to lately. In 2022, West received backlash for, among a litany of other reasons, wearing a White Lives Matter shirt at Paris Fashion Week, posting violently anti-Semitic tweets and saying that he “[sees] good things about Hitler” during an appearance on InfoWars.
Though West issued an apology for this behavior (in Hebrew, no less) this week, it’s also worth mentioning that the cover art for Vultures has an 1835 painting by Caspar David Friedrich, a favorite artist of Adolf Hitler. The cover also includes what some have noted to be visual references to the white nationalist black metal band Burzum. West also appeared at an album listening event wearing a black Ku Klux Klan-style hood.
In fairness, he does say “I ain’t anti-Semitic” in the title track of Vultures, followed by a sexually explicit lyric about a Jewish girl. Make of all of this what you will.
For the North Texas music scene, however, the album is notable for its sample of Fort Worth soul singer Leon Bridges’ “River” in the Vultures track of the same name. A snippet of the song, from Bridges' debut album Coming Home, can be heard on leaked clips of another listening event. TikTok users spreading the clip are calling the song an “instant classic.”
The song has also been heard on the HBO series Big Little Lies and was covered by Grace VanderWaal at her Dallas show in 2018.@rapdaily247 he’s about to release an instant classic w this one #kanyewest #tydollasign #leonbridges ♬ River - Leon Bridges
A representative for Bridges called the sample “a surprise” and said that Bridges has never “recorded an original song for or with Kanye, nor has he ever been in the studio with him.”
For better or worse, West has a history of using surprising samples. Vultures was pushed back from its original release date of Dec. 15 because of clearance issues. Though nothing indicates that the “River” sample was unauthorized, The Backstreet Boys have made it known that they were very surprised by West’s sample of “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and not in a fun way.
Nicki Minaj also did not approve of a collaboration they worked on in 2018 being included on Vultures.
“Regarding Kanye, that train has left the station,” Minaj said on an Instagram livestream. “No disrespect in any way. I just put out a brand-new album. Now why would I put out a song that’s been out for three years?”
West responded to these comments at a listening party, claiming he “supported her career” and made her “rewrite her ‘Monster’ verse three times.”
Supporting local artists has never felt more morally dubious.
