Fred Again.. has produced a track on Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s VULTURES album
The controversial collaborative album is supposed to hit streaming services today.
Fred again.., Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign. Credit: Debbie Hickey/MEGA/John Sanglasang/Getty
Fred Again.. has been confirmed to have a producer credit on a track from Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s hotly anticipated collaborative album VULTURES.
The album’s page on Genius credits the Grammy-nominated producer on the track Slide. Fred Again.. had been playing the track during a run of shows in Los Angeles last month, though sometimes he played a shortened version. He had confirmed that he had worked with Ty Dolla $ign on the song a few months prior.
The project is apparently meant to be released today (December 15), with The Independent reporting that West was overheard saying in a club at the weekend what the album was called and that it would be out “this coming Friday”.
Last week, Ty confirmed the album’s tracklisting with a handwritten note posted on Instagram. It will supposedly come out under the name ¥$, and acts including Freddie Gibbs, Playboi Carti, Future, James Blake, Nicki Minaj and several others will be making guest appearances, as well as West’s own daughter North.
Fred Again played a longer version of this ¥$ snippet last night 🔥
He confirmed that he worked on this song few month ago with Ty Dolla Sign pic.twitter.com/CXJBOdvKPm
— Donda Times (@dondatimes) November 4, 2023
However, there is a potential obstacle that may impede the album from hitting streaming services today. Minaj has denied her verse on unreleased song New Body, despite West pleading with her to clear it.
Responding on Instagram Live, Minaj said: “Child, that train has left the station, OK? No disrespect in any way, I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that has been out for three years? Come on, guys.” New Body was originally set to be released on West’s unreleased album Yandhi, which was scrapped in 2018.
The album is West’s first release since 2021’s DONDA and his first since accusations of anti-Semitism were levelled against him in October 2022 after he posted on social media: “Going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE … You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
He later said: “Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler … [Nazis] did good things too.” He also posted an image of a swastika blended with a Star of David. VULTURES’ title track both addresses and stokes these accusations, with West rapping: “How I’m anti-Semitic? I just fucked a Jewish bitch.”
A listening party for the album was held in Miami earlier this week and West courted controversy once again by wearing a black Ku Klux Klan-style hood to the event.
VULTURES’ artwork, meanwhile, features a painting by Caspar David Friedrich, the Romantic-era German landscape painter who was later championed by the Nazis.
