In 2015, when Kanye West went to The Breakfast Club, he told the hosts that no matter how hard he tried, Drake is going to speak to a generation that he can’t reach. Three years later, much like Drake and West, Travis Scott has developed an unparalleled relationship with this generation. Today, experiencing Travis Scott must be like how it felt to experience David Bowie or Prince in real time, artists who could verbalize sentiments that a massive amount of people feel, but can’t skillfully verbalize. Through concerts that are purely about connecting with the audience, music about escaping from a place you don’t want to be, and a life that genuinely reflects the music, Scott is speaking to the youth in a way that, arguably, hasn’t been seen in Hip-Hop.
There’s almost a beacon when you hear Scott’s music. A calling for a nation of ragers, dreamers and outcasts–outcasts because they know they don’t belong where they are– that find a haven in his music. As he gets gains more attention, and the sound he’s developed goes commercial, the beacon’s signal gets stronger and reaches further. With Astroworld going number 1 again on Billboard’s Top 100, the results of Scott touching a generation in a way that few artists are able to is becoming more apparent.
From small arenas to Madison Square Garden, Scott has always made people feel special. His fighting with cameramen and security to make sure that the crowd felt a connection seemed like primadonna antics. However, as he’s grown, and flown over the crowd on a huge electric bird, and now, ridden on a roller-coaster at his shows, the “madness” is understood. Since, his Rodeo Tour he’s brought kids onto the stage to sing the songs with him and jump off of the stage, but now the shows are packed at Madison Square Garden and the kids are literally soaring into a sold out crowd.
This remarkable growth has been chronicled throughout Scott’s music since the beginning. Seeing his life from a long-time fans perspective feels like you’ve watched him attain his seemingly unobtainable dreams– the headlining tours, Grammy nominations, fashion collaborations, etc.
Since 2013’s Owl Pharaoh, Scott has been building a narrative about a ambitious kid trying to make it from a small town to his dreamland–which would seemingly go on to become Astroworld. On Owl Pharoah’s intro, Meadow Creek, Scott juxtaposes slave masters in a dream to his parents in real life before closing the track by saying he’s “gotta get the fuck outta here.”
From then on, every project, with omission of Birds In The Trap and Days Before Rodeo, continues to build on this narrative; Owl Pharaoh being the realization, Rodeo being the action, and Astroworld being the arrival.
On Pornography, the intro of Scott’s debut album Rodeo, we hear T.I. tell the listeners about Scott’s plan to make it happen as he chooses to say “fuck this shit” and go after what he wants. Throughout the project, T.I. narrates Scott’s story, while Scott delivers these incredibly ambitious songs, like Impossible and 90210 that expresses the emotions of a kid trying to reach his dreams.On Apple Pie–the outro about Scott having to find his own route in life–T.I. tell us that Scott’s evolution is complete and now he’s on his journey.
This journey continues when we are introduced to Astroworld, Scott’s third studio album, named after a seasonally operated theme park in Houston that was closed in 2005. On the album’s introduction, Stargazing, Scott immediately brings us into this new place with the songs spacy, almost otherworldly sonics. Then, the Frank Ocean-assisted chorus on Carousel gives us the introduction to this newfound destination. Ocean sings: Brand new, brand new, this new place I got to// New world, new sky that’s so blue it’s black too// New growth, new growth, all these fades I outgrew// Blue bands, blue bands, get my cash from drive-thru//.
Astroworld sounds like the fruits of Scott’s labor, another checkpoint on the journey. The beautiful part about this sega is that, not only are the themes of the story universal, but Scott’s life is the music personified. Not only does he make you believe that you can do it– “it” being whatever you set out to do–but he’s proving it.
Still, Astroworld isn’t the quintessential conclusion to this story. It’s just a checkpoint. This narrative feels like Scott’s mentor Kanye West’s college dropout sega. While we still haven’t gotten West’s finale Good Ass Job, Scott’s seemingly still leading us to the finale. He ends Astroworld with Coffee Bean, a track that sounds distinctly separate from the rest of the project where he discusses his relationship with Kylie Jenner and his child, closes the album heading to a new chapter in his life.
T.I. asking “will he make it” on the end of Rodeo holds more weight now than ever before because he’s continuing to reach new heights. The now Grammy-nominated artist is successfully building a legacy while simultaneously proving that nothing is impossible. Now, we must wait to see how this wild, inspiring tale continues, and more importantly, how the story of the dreamer will end.
Standard Of Taste 