Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign’s new collaborative album “Vultures” is in the starting blocks – and is already causing a lot of excitement even before its release. Most recently because of the cover artwork, because it reminds many of the aesthetics of the Norwegian black metal band Burzum. Why this is explosive: Their mastermind Varg Vikernes was not only in prison for the murder of musician Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, but is also considered a right-wing radical.
As “Diffus” reports, among others, West uses a work of art by Caspar David Friedrich for his cover artwork – the album title “Vultures” can be seen in Fraktur script. Some see clear parallels here with Burzum, who designed some of their artwork similarly in terms of both typeface and motifs. The Donda Times page dedicated to West also picked up on the similarity in a tweet.
Kanye West and the Burzum sample
This is not the first time that the rapper has been linked to Burzum. On the 2016 song “Pussy Print” by Gucci Mane feat. Kanye West can be heard sampling the Burzum track “Round around the transcendental pillar of singularity”. West is credited as a songwriter on this song, but not as a producer.
West has also been provocative again lately with questionable actions: At the listening party for his upcoming album “Vultures,” the musician recently wore a black Ku Klux Klan-style hood that only left holes for his eyes. Last year he repeatedly caused outrage with controversial statements that were sometimes viewed as anti-Semitic – so violent that several companies such as Adidas ended their collaboration with him.