"Vultures": A History Of Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign Collaborations

After pushed-back release dates and cryptic posts, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign released their collab album Vultures 1 on Friday, February 9. Over the past few years, Kanye has been consistent with having unconventional or in some cases, inconvenient releases. For this one, the album was only on Apple Music for hours. It took hours to appear on Spotify, pulled from Apple Music then re-uploaded with a slightly different album cover. The album’s release was preceded by several listening parties that were open to the public. This has been Kanye’s method for the last few years which has gotten mixed reception due to the often chaotic outcome.

This collab album from Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign comes after years of developing their chemistry. The first time they worked together on wax was in 2015. However, the subsequent collaborations honed into various styles so fans went into the album with a rather open mind. These collabs had a variety of production styles and tones so listeners went into the new album with open minds on how it would sound. Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s ability to perform on a variety of prediction styles is a testament to their skill and range as artists. We’re looking at some of their collabs across the years and how they led to their collab album.

Read More: Kanye West & Ty Dolla Sign Drop "Vultures 1": All Features & Production Credits

One could say that Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have been day one collaborators. They worked together on Ty Dolla $ign’s debut album Free TC which was released in 2015. Their collaborative track “Guard Down” was an emotional effort that paved the way for their collab on Kanye’s The Life Of Pablo on the track “Real Friends.” This TLOP track was even more emotional as Kanye shared glimpses into his personal life on the track. During 2016, Kanye posted several tracklists for The Life of Pablo - originally titled SWISH - and “Real Friends” was there every time.

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign also collaborated on another song from The Life of Pablo titled “Fade” which also featured Post Malone. This track found the duo on a house sample, something that audiences did not expect. In an interview with W Magazine, Ty$ spoke on how the song came to be. “We came up with that song in five minutes—the lyrics and the idea. He did the beat on the spot, like from scratch. It was really dope.”

Prior to Pablo, Ty Dolla Sign landed writing credits on two surprise releases from Ye, "FourFiveSeconds" and "Only One." In an interview with Billboard, Ty$ spoke about the process of creating the tracks with Ye: “[In] like 24 hours, [we recorded] seven songs or nine songs that day…He was open to my input, like, ‘do whatever you want to do. Here’s your mic. Do you need anything?’ I’m like ‘Awesome! Let’s get it!’"

Ty Dolla $ign is one of the main people who ventured to Wyoming to record with Kanye for The Wyoming Sessions. Ty Dolla $ign made appearances on two of the five albums from these sessions. He has writing credits and provided vocals for Kanye’s album Ye and did vocals for his collab album with Kid Cudi, KIDS SEE GHOSTS.

In an interview with HipHopDX, he spoke on how the Wyoming sessions went and how he admired Ye’s process during them. “I went up there for two days and did every song that you heard from all those projects…It was a movie out there. He [Kanye] always picks dope locations to record from…It was basically his bedroom where he had the studio set up and it was overlooking this big-ass field and all these mountains. It was beautiful…”

Read More: Will Kids See Ghosts Ever Make Another Album?

Several of the songs Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign made had some emotional weight to them. Many have likened Ty Dolla $ign’s vocals to a gospel singer's whenever he links up with Ye. Evidently, their collaborative streak continued once Ty Dolla $ign appeared on Ye’s gospel album JESUS IS KING. “Everything We Need” went through a variety of changes but Ty$’s vocals stayed on them through the track’s entire transformation process. The original title of the track was “The Storm” and allegedly came from the sessions for the scrapped Kanye album, Yandhi.

Then, Kanye West made two appearances on Ty Dolla $ign’s creatively titled album, Featuring Ty Dolla $ign. These came on “Track 6” and “Ego Death.” The latter finds the duo - along with vocals from FKA Twigs and production from Skrillex - rapping and singing on a groovy house-esque beat. Boogzadabeast and Ty Dolla $ign himself also have production credits on the song. Meanwhile, “Track 6,” was another song where different versions with different people contributing to it. One demo version made its rounds online as “Thank You Vol. 2” and actually featured Kid Cudi. Some sources have stated the track was originally created for the KIDS SEE GHOSTS album.

Donda is another unique release in Kanye's discography that Ty Dolla $ign appears on. He appears on “Junya pt 2” which is a different version of “Junya.” The only thing different from the original is Ty$’s verse being on it. This track is one of several “pt 2” versions on the deluxe edition of Donda. With Kanye and Ty$’s history at this point, it seemed right to still have him be on the album in some form instead of leaving his verse on the cutting room floor.

Often during Kanye West’s outbursts, rants, monologues, etc, he names specific people. When he does this, he’s either condemning them, praising them or comparing himself to them. Ultimately, Ty Dolla $ign has remained in Ye's good graces throughout it all and vice versa. Despite the controversies, Ty Dolla $ign didn't stray from Ye's side, leading to the release of their collaborative album.

While it's almost guaranteed that working with Kanye would be anything but smooth sailing, Ty Dolla $ign remained committed to the process and provided fans with updates since they told fans Vultures would be "coming soon" in November 2023. Though the album faced a multitude of setbacks, the two came together strong on the first installment in their series of projects. With two more volumes in the trilogy reportedly coming, only time will tell if this remains the case going forward. There’s also allegedly another solo Kanye album coming and listeners are wondering if Ty$ will be on that one too or rather, if any songs from the Vultures sessions will appear on that album. 

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