Toward the end of the Thursday night listening experience for “Vultures, Volume One,” the still-as-of-now unreleased collaborative album from the duo identifying as “¥$” and featuring Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla Sign, someone apparently pulled the plug on the event — online at least.
The United Center show was being livestreamed on the Veeps platform, and it’s been reported by outlets including TMZ that as soon as Ye started spewing hate-mongering lyrics, he was abruptly cut off and the screen went black.
For days, Ye has been playing a sad violin online, claiming he can’t get arenas to book him anymore as he looks to stage more productions of “Vultures.” The only other date planned is Friday night at New York’s UBS Arena (the United Center gig was only announced earlier this week).
“We just sold out United Center in seven minutes, and I just want to express to everybody out there to see if there’s anyone that can help with this … it’s the only arena that I had access to in the past year,” Ye lamented in a since-deleted social media post. “When I call, people say there’s no avails for me, and you know why that is.”
It’s the latest domino to fall after the rapper’s continued anti-Semitic rants that have resulted in canceled endorsements and product partnerships in recent years. TV host Bill Maher this week stated he was nixing a planned appearance from Ye on his “Club Random” podcast.
And despite the apology he issued in Hebrew last December to the Jewish community, Ye on Thursday rapped the egregious line that muted the event online: “And I’m still crazy, bipolar, anti-Semite//And I’m still the king,” as someone nearby shouted, “You tell ‘em Ye!”
The sold-out arena show at the UC featured Ye in a Jason Voorhees hockey mask stomping around with Ty Dolla Sign on a smoke-filled stage for an hour as the album played on an arsenal of speakers.
The venue was brimming with young people who earlier stood outside in lines that wrapped around Madison, Monroe and Wood streets, waiting for hours to get in. The advertised door times of 7:30 were pushed to 9 p.m. (the planned start time) due to a “production delay” according to a doorperson at the UC. The show itself got started a bit after 10.
One young, twentysomething fan remarked he had come all the way from Copenhagen.
The night’s special guests included Freddie Gibbs, YG and Ye’s daughter North West, who makes her musical debut on the “Vultures” album track, “Talking / Once Again.” The youngest West received the loudest cheers of the night.
One of the songs sampled from “Vultures” on Thursday night included a snippet of Black Sabbath’s classic “War Pigs.” On Friday, Ozzy Osbourne released a statement on social media vehemently denying he gave the rapper permission to use the song, refusing to allow usage because “he is an Antisemite” and declaring, “I want no association with this man!”
As of publication, the much-delayed volume one of “Vultures” still hasn’t dropped, and there’s been no word on whether that’s Ye’s decision or whether a streaming service has not yet been secured.
