530 (song)

"530" is a song by the American hip hop superduo ¥$, composed of rapper Kanye West and singer Ty Dolla Sign, from their second studio album, Vultures 2 (2024). It was recorded during the sessions for West's demo album, Donda 2 (2022). West handled the production alongside Ty, BoogzDaBeast, E*vax, and FnZ. The song was updated after the release of the album, with alterations to the sound effects and some of the vocals. An R&B number, it samples Swsh's "Break the Fall (Acoustic)" and was noted for an unfinished sound.

Lyrically, the song features West lamenting Kim Kardashian's parenting skills and prevention of his access to their children after their divorce. "530" received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who were split in their feelings towards the lyrical content. Some criticized its unfinished sound, although a few critics praised West's clarity and the composition. The song reached numbers 16 and 37 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, respectively.

On February 10, 2024, Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign released Vultures 1, their debut album as ¥$ and the first in their Vultures series.^[1] The duo had previously collaborated on multiple tracks, including the singles "Only One" (2014) and "Ego Death" (2020). Their most recent collaboration was "Junya pt 2" from West's 2021 album Donda.^[2][3] In March 2024, Ty Dolla Sign acknowledged his loyalty to West for having believed in the rapper during both his successes and failures.^[4]

"530" was recorded for West's demo album Donda 2 in 2022, at the time of his divorce from media personality Kim Kardashian and it leaked online from the sessions.^[5][6] The song was first revealed on an early tracklist, having been set for inclusion on the album.^[7][8] It remained largely unchanged from the original, besides an additional insult from West towards Canadian musician Drake.^[7] On August 4, 2024, American singer Swsh reacted to praise of "Break the Fall (Acoustic)" being sampled on the song by posting that the sample had not been cleared. He joked about having only been aware of the sample since that morning, alongside expressing "much love" for West.^[9] On August 5, 2024, "530" was one of the six songs from Vultures 2 to be updated. Distortion was added to some of the vocals and sound effects were altered, mostly ones of drinks pouring.^[10] Vocals were also added to the song from Ty Dolla Sign.^[11]

"530" was produced by West alongside Ty, BoogzDaBeast, E*vax, and FnZ.^[12] Musically, "530" is a R&B number with a length of four minutes and forty-eight seconds (4:48).^[12][13] It includes a sample of "Break the Fall (Acoustic)", performed by Swsh, which is replaced by an ambient instrumental for the second half.^[9] The song was noted as sounding unfinished by multiple publications.^[6][14][15]

In the lyrics of "530", West criticizes Kardashian for her parenting skills and his lack of access to their children in the wake of the divorce.^[5][6] West portrays himself as a drunk man delivering a voicemail,^[15] reflecting on his alcohol dependence damaging the two's relationship in his first verse.^[5][6] In the second verse, he changes the focus to selfishness and self-pity.^[5] West delivers unfinished and mumbled lines directed towards women,^[6][7] such as "sa-fah-na-da" and "fa-fa-na-da".^[13] He calls out Drake and alludes to the musician's chart success, rapping: "You don't really love Ye, go listen to Drake, bitch."^[5][13][16]

On September 28, 2024, West held a "Listening Experience" event at the Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China.^[17] At the event, he played a new version of "530" which features new additional vocals from Ty Dolla Sign and a fully finished second verse.^[18] Now he calls out more celebrities such as Canadian singer Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye: “Go listen to Abel, better yet, go listen to Drake, bitch”; and Democratic Party candidate for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Kamala Harris: “Oh, what Kamala gon' do now for your future? Bitch.”^[19] On November 10, 2024, this version was released to streaming services, with an AI model of West allegedly overdubbing his first verse in addition to one extra line from Ty Dolla Sign, and the line about Harris was replaced by an echo effect.

On August 3, 2024, ¥$ released their second studio album Vultures 2 independently through YZY, including "530" as the seventh track.^[8][12] The song was met with generally mixed reviews from music critics, with divided opinions of West's lyricism. Writing for HipHopDX, Sam Moore expressed that West delivers "a dose of poison" to Kardashian and a confessional first verse, moving smoothly from self-reflection to "solipsism and self-pity" as he criticizes her for parenting skills and his lack of access to their children.^[5] Providing a less enthusiastic review for Billboard, Michael Saponara ranked "530" as the fifth best song out of fifteen on Vultures 2 for West getting "poignant about his messy divorce" as he shows his strength of "turning his pain into powerful art".^[6] Saponara cited a resemblance to West's tracks "Saint Pablo" (2016) and "Come to Life" (2021), although criticized the sound quality and mumbled lyrics.^[6] Fred Thomas of AllMusic commended that the song loosely invokes "the long-faded glory" of West's best work through "chopped vocal soul samples", yet he seemingly impersonates himself.^[20] At HotNewHipHop, Gabriel Bras Nevares felt that West's clear narrative and attempts at wordplay make for one of the album's "passable verses".^[21] In a mixed review, The Guardian's Ben Beaumont-Thomas felt that although the song depicts "a tequila-wasted voice note" from West, his unfinished lyrics and incomplete words are "startling: a portrait of someone drunkenly trying to piece his thoughts" as a whole, as well as his life.^[15] Stephen Kearse from Pitchfork said that West "squanders the anguished R&B loop" of the song and called it a "ripoff" of Drake's "Marvins Room" (2011), noting how he stumbles across the unfinished verse with "some scoop-diddy-whoops" and misogyny.^[13] In Slant Magazine, Paul Attard wrote off the song for having a "demo quality" and sounding like a rip from a YouTube leak.^[14]

Following the release of Vultures 2, "530" entered the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 16.^[22] The song further debuted at number 37 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[23]