In the pulsating ellipse of America’s hip-hop heartbeat, there are few names that continuously surface to the ceiling among the other countless voices. Travis Scott, a name that reaches the ground in sentence fragments and shrill exclamations, represents the brightest spot of light that sets the world ablaze on a daily basis.
Travis Scott, the rapper and singer from the sizzling Texas city of Houston, has done more than merely storm into the consciousness of music fans worldwide ; he has infiltrated it, seeped his name into it and completely renovated it to cater to his egotistical needs.
Scott’s ascension to stardom is the stuff of an airport thriller, leaving you hungrily turning the pages when you know you should stop. How did we get from that upstart performing in Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in 2017 to the guy who fills the place for two straight nights?
What separates Travis Scott from the rest of the pack, is his ability to turn music into an art. When he is laying down his latest lyrics, it’s not rap. It is poetry, and it’s real. His lyrics are like pictures, each song is another chapter in Scott’s life, and listening to him is like reading a vividly detailed book. You’ll be listening to “coordinates”, and you’ll close your eyes and imagine the phone pole you passed on the way down your block on your way home from work, and then you’ll open your eyes and you’ll be back to your normal life.
It’s not just the words that make him an expert; it’s the throbbing beats that surge throughout his tracks. \
Travis Scott-produced songs are chaotic symphonies, a mash-up of psychedelic roars and steely, spooky vocals and chest-beating bass lines. The beats in his songs are an invitation to get lost, each song a roller coaster through his head.
Scott’s shows are alienating and transcendent, euphoric rituals. They’re phantasmagorical, overwhelming comprising sonic and visual overloads which stretch the boundaries of what a traditional concert could or aims to be. It’s not just a performance, we’re all going on a journey into La Flame’s parallel universe, a place where the lines of reality and fantasy often blur together. He’s consistently asked fans to forget about the rules, to throw everything they’ve got on the stage, and then he sets the motherfucker on fire.
But it’s his taste in fashion that’s just as progressively boundary-pushing. Styled in streetwear but bridging high fashion brands, Travis Scott doesn’t just wear clothes, he makes a statement, which means his get-ups trend-setter-of-the-year, sometimes even breaking the internet with his fearless choices. His clothes are his armor, as critical to his on-stage showmanship as it is to his broader persona. Travis’ fashion playlist is nothing if not diverse, breathtakingly eclectic and a never-ending collaboration of artistic vision and rebellion.
Travis Scott’s popularity is a testament to the undisputed strength of his artistry. He’s not simply your everyday rapper, he’s a cultural icon. His music fuses with a generation that craves truth and the “come as you are” manner of self-expression. Voice of the voiceless, dreamer of big dreams and the enemy of conformity, he’s the face of the disenfranchised and the rebel.
In an age where the music industry tends to create molds for artists to fit into— more often than not pumping out cookie-cutter prototypes— Travis Scott has carved out a true anomaly. Travis Scott is more of a genre blending pioneer who isn’t afraid to create beyond current boundaries, he creates music that cannot be identified within a specific genre. With his music always seeming to lean more towards psychedelic trap beats and sound.
In a world full of artists, the rise of Travis Scott is a case study in the power of being true to yourself as an artist, and striving for greatness. It’s fitting that while so much of “Astroworld’s” marketing centered on bringing fans along on his journey, the final product is as much of a mirror. In an era that values conformity in all it’s forms, “Astroworld” only bolsters Scott’s argument that he is an artist without peer. Travis Scott isn’t just a rapper: He’s an artist who has rewritten the rules of his game. I can’t wait to see what he does next.Travis Scott: The Meteoric Rise of a Maverick in Music
