Via Travis Scott
Welcome to 'Travis Scott 101: A Pre-Admission into Astroworld'. I'm assuming everyone took the prerequisites 'Kid Cudi: Shaping a Generation' and 'Raging: The Lost Art Form'. As you all well know Astroworld has been in the works for quite some time now.
807 days to be exact. The earliest known archive of Astroworld comes to us from a Vine posted on May,17th, 2016. To put that time in perspective, Obama was president, Kylie Jenner was a year away from breaking up with Tyga, and Desiigner was one of the hottest new names in rap. The phrase "drop Astroworld" has found its way into so many comment sections that it's viewed in the same category as 'type beats' and SoundCloud links. With so much hype surrounding an album, there's bound to be a substantial amount of bandwagoners; and that's okay.
As with any class, some of you are probably more advanced than others. Some of you have probably been fans since 'Owl Pharaoh', while others probably became fans through Kylie Jenner and radio hits like 'Antidote' and 'Goosebumps'-- both are fine. By the end of this course you will all be able to equally enjoy the fifth installment of Travis Scott's solo discography.
The Beginning
Via MacDevinGTHigh School
The attachment above is the most important music video Travis Scott ever put out. At the time of its release, Travis was living in his friend's apartment in New York and lying to his mom about being enrolled in the University of Texas-San Antonio so she could fund his plane tickets to LA and day-to-day living. After the release of the above video, 'Love Sick', Travis described being called up by T.I. as "so random". Three months later, an unsigned, homeless in LA Travis Scott let his manager take one of his self-produced beats to New York. That beat partnered with the 'Love Sick' video booked Travis Scott a ticket to work on 'Cruel Summer' with Kanye West. His stellar verse on Cruel Summer's 'Sin City' convinced Kanye to further Scott's invitation to work on Cruel Summer and a good amount of what would become 'Yeezus' in Hawaii.
Travis Scott would later sign to West's G.O.O.D Music as an artist/producer and T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records as an artist. In the same time period, Scott dropped his debut project 'Owl Pharaoh', which included gems like: 'Bad Mood Shit on You', 'Upper Echelon', 'Uptown', 'Hell of a Night', 'Blocka La Flame', 'MIA, and ' Quintana'.
The Ascension
'Days Before Rodeo' is viewed by many as one of the greatest mixtapes of a generation. Over half of the tracklist has over 10 million streams on SoundCloud and 'Drugs You Should Try It', a fan favorite Travis Scott song, has almost 50 million streams. With the success of his follow-up mixtape and his polarizing tour with Young Thug, the hype surrounding Rodeo was heavy.
And Rodeo didn't deliver. At least that's what many respected media platforms led the world to believe. Pitchfork gave Rodeo a six and said Scott "lacked identity", Stereogum called it "disappointing", and Prettymuchamazing bluntly said "Rodeo isn't worth the price of admission." Critics and fans had polar opposite opinions. Rodeo has a 4.5/5 rating on Amazon and is described by many as Travis Scott's defining project. Hits like 'Antidote', '90210', 'Maria I'm Drunk, and 'Oh My Dis Side' had ascended La Flame into stardom. Remember 'Oh My Dis Side' for later in the lesson. It plays a crucial role in Astroworld.
Maintaining Stardom
Via Highsnobiety
Between Rodeo and our next chapter, 'The Letdown', Travis Scott did everything a new star should. He collabed with megastars from Justin Beiber to Rihanna, going so far into the collab with the latter that dating rumors formed. He created his own streaming radio station,'.wav radio', where he and his best friend/DJ Chase B release exclusive songs and interviews. He partnered with a major brand. Nike has since given Travis his own Air Force 1 and Jordan 4 model with more collabs seemingly coming in the future.
Travis Scott's next project post-Rodeo came in the form of 'Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight'--a name spawning from a Quavo line on 'Pick Up the Phone'. Pitchfork, the same media outlet that said Travis "lacked identity" on Rodeo, stated that on BITSM Travis, "finds his true home as a host for others", while rating the project a 7.2. Stereogum, who reviewed Rodeo as "disappointing", ranked BITSM as one of its top 40 albums of 2016. The album's singles, 'Goosebumps' and 'Pick up The Phone' went 4x and 2x platinum respectively. By all accounts, Travis Scott delivered on another project; but it didn't resonate with fans like Rodeo.
Rodeo felt like a deep-dive into a Travis Scott curated experience, whereas BITSM felt like a talented artist doing their best DJ Khaled impersonation, leaning on features and not having enough La Flame on his own album. Nevertheless, fans were content, because BITSM, despite lacking Travis, was still a solid album; and was ultimately viewed as an appetizer and the kids would eat the real meal with Astroworld.
Then Huncho Jack gave the kids food poisioning.
The Letdown
via Pitchfork
There was a number of things wrong with Huncho Jack. Write the following formulas and list down, they may be on the final exam.
Formula 1.) More teasers = higher expectations
Formula 2.) Too much of an artist = sound dilution
Things Wrong with Huncho Jack
1.) Too many teasers
2.) Collabing with Quavo at a time where the Migos' sound was everywhere
3.) Collabing with Quavo over Young Thug
4.) Time of Release
Huncho Jack was teased for over half a year, and due to the success of Travis Scott and Quavo's aforementioned 'Oh My Dis Side' fans were rightfully excited. However, the sound of Huncho Jack didn't match the energy of the Winter season and thanks to Quavo's sound being everywhere at the time Huncho Jack felt like anything but unique.
Present Day
On the eve of Astroworld, expectations are through the roof, the ozone, the Stratosphere, and is resting somewhere in the Mesosphere. Astroworld is the most hyped album since Drake's Views, and just like Drake, Travis Scott put those expectations on himself. Teasing an album for over two years puts a lot of pressure on that project. Add the disappointment of Huncho Jack; and throw in the fact that Scott is the head of his own label, Cactus Jack Records, and his success now effects the artists signed to him, Smokepurpp and Sheck Wes most notably, and that pressure is magnified.
Astroworld drops August 3rd on all platforms and is set to have 17 songs. Sheck Wes is the only confirmed feature at the moment. Travis Scott is quoted as saying Astroworld will have more of a rodeo vibe than a BITSM vibe, and will be more rapping as he dives into the life of Jacques Webster.
If you enjoyed this class make sure to enroll in 'Travis Scott 102: A Review of Astroworld'