"Promotion" 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). The song features vocals from Future. Prior to the song's release, Adin Ross previewed a snippet in July 2024.
Background and composition
On July 23, 2024, American influencer Adin Ross shared a snippet of "Promotion", revealing rapper Future's appearance.[1] At a concert in August, Ty Dolla Sign mistakenly said that Vultures 2 topped the US Billboard 200 prior to a performance of the song.[2] "Promotion" includes synthesizer tones and drum machine sounds, with emphasis on reverb and sparse vocal samples.[3] During the songs outro, West references his hit single "Good Life" (2007), rapping "Like we always do at this..."[4][5]
The song was initially recorded in 2021 as a Future song featuring Ty Dolla Sign, titled "Gorgeous", which contained additional lines from each artist and different, Chinese classical-inspired production. The song was shelved until it was brought to West in 2023, and was reworked during the Vultures 1 recording sessions in Japan. On the released version, the original hi-hats can be faintly heard during Future's parts, as the audio bled through the channels during recording; this is also true for fellow Vultures 2 track "Forever Rolling" as heard during American rapper Lil Baby's verse.
Reception
"Promotion" was met with generally negative reviews from music critics. Writing for Slant Magazine, Paul Attard felt that West is not bothered with the song and called it "too-cutesy".[6] Gabriel Bras Nevares of
HotNewHipHop was highly critical of the production, seeing the synth tones and drums as among the most generic work of 2024.[3] In a positive review at Billboard, Michael Saponara wrote that the song features West's strongest performance on the album as he utilizes his "Midas touch" and also praised Future's appearance.[5]
