Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s collaborative album, Vultures 1, has been pulled from Apple Music and iTunes. The move comes shortly after distribution company FUGA announced it was trying to have the project taken down due to a violation of its service agreement.
In a statement to Billboard, FUGA explained it had already refused to host the album, but a “longstanding” FUGA client went around the company’s back and uploaded it anyway.
Vultures 1 has already received hefty amounts of criticism and threats of legal action. West allegedly sampled several songs from multiple artists without permission. The track “Good (Don’t Die)” was removed from Spotify on Wednesday (February 14) after Donna Summer’s estate accused him of “copyright infringement” by sampling her 1977 track, “I Feel Love.”
On February 9, Ozzy Osbourne revealed West had used a sample of the 1983 Black Sabbath performance of “Iron Man” in the track “Carnival.” Both Osbourne and his wife Sharon, who cited West’s history of antisemitism, threatened legal action. It was ultimately scrubbed from the Spotify version of the song.
For now, Vultures 1 remains on Spotify. Despite the circus surrounding the release (let’s be honest, no one is surprised), it’s still expected to land at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 next week, according to HITS Daily Double. The album is projected to move around 140,000 total album-equivalent units in its opening week.
On Wednesday night, West addressed the controversy surrounding Taylor Swift and the rumor she had him removed from a Super Bowl suite via Instagram. At the same time, he chided the Swifties, Swift’s rabid fanbase, for encouraging them to stream Beyoncé’s new singles to keep him from the top spot.
He wrote: “WHEN I SAID THAT I’M THE NEW JESUS B#### I WASN’T EVEN THINKING ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT. THAT WAS A WHOLE LINE BEFORE BUT I APPRECIATE THE FREE PROMO. LIL WAYNE ACTUALLY MENTIONS TRAVIS KELSEY ON VULTURES 2. THIS ALBUM IS ACTUALLY SUPER POSITIVE AND FUN IT’S ALL ABOUT TRIUMPHANT. LAST YEAR WAS INCREDIBLY CHALLENGING FOR ME, MY WIFE, MY CHILDREN, FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I’VE BEEN BANNED FROM HOTELS, KICKED OUT OF COMPANIES, AND EVEN NOT ALLOWED TO EAT IN SOME RESTAURANTS.
“EVERYONE SAW VULTURES 1 GET TAKEN OFF OF PLATFORMS TO LIMIT OUR FIRST WEEK NUMBERS. THIS REMINDS ME OF THE MISTREATMENT OF MY PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF OUR SKIN. REMEMBER I WAS ON TAYLOR’S SIDE WHEN SCOOTER BOUGHT HER MASTERS BEHIND HER BACK. SHE AND BEYONCÉ ARE BIG INSPIRATIONS TO ALL MUSICIANS WE ALWAYS SAY HOW BOTH SELL OUT TOURS AND MOVIES ALSO, I’M SURE I’VE BEEN FAR MORE HELPFUL TO TAYLOR SWIFT’S CAREER THAN HARMFUL.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3WTZcfIQYZ/?hl=en
West continued: “TO ALL TAYLOR SWIFT FANS I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY UUUM IM NOT YOUR FRIEND EITHER THOUGH LOL. ALSO I DIDN’T GET KICKED OUT OF THE SUPER BOWL WE LEFT OUR SEATS TO GO TO YG’S BOX AND SEE DIFFERENT FRIENDS. MY WIFE HAD NEVER BEEN TO A SUPER BOWL SO I WANTED TO WALK AROUND AND HAVE A NICE TIME. WE HAD SUCH A FUN DAY.”