Travis Scott
Jacques Webster, Jr. (born April 30, 1992), better known by his stage name Travis Scott (formerly stylized as Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Houston, Texas.
In 2012, Scott signed his first major-label deal with Epic Records. In November of the same year, Scott signed a deal with Kanye West's GOOD Music, to be a part of its production wing Very GOOD Beats, after appearing on the label's 2012 compilation album Cruel Summer. In April 2013, it was announced Scott signed a record deal with T.I.'s Grand Hustle imprint.
Scott's first full-length project, a mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh, was self-released in May 2013. This was followed with a second mixtape, titled Days Before Rodeo, in August 2014. Scott's debut studio album Rodeo, was released in September 2015 and was led by the hit single "Antidote", which reached the top 20 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. His second album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, was released in September 2016, to generally positive reviews.
Early life[edit]
Webster was born in Houston, Texas. He grew up in Missouri City, a middle-class suburban area bordering southwest Houston. Scott lived with his grandmother from ages one to six, but later moved to the suburbs, where his father ran his own business.[3] Scott attended the University of Texas at San Antonio before dropping out to fully pursue his music career.[4][5]
Career[edit]
2008–12: Career beginnings and record deals[edit]
At the age of 16, Scott embarked on his musical career as a record producer, with a focus on hip hop production. He subsequently entered his first partnership with his longtime friend, Chris Holloway, forming the duo The Graduates. In 2008, the duo released their untitled first EP on social networking website, Myspace. The following year, Scott and OG Chess, one of Travis's schoolmates, formed the group The Classmates. The Classmates released two projects, with Buddy Rich in 2009 and Cruis'n USA in 2010.[6] Scott mainly handled production work on both projects. The duo remained together until late 2012, when personal conflicts and financial disputes led to the disbandment of the group.[7] After leaving college, Scott moved from Houston, Texas to Washington, New York, where Scott began working with friend Mike Waxx, who owned the music website Illroots. Eventually frustrated in New York, Scott moved to Los Angeles, California four months later. Atlanta-based rapper and owner of Grand Hustle Records T.I. would later hear one of Scott's productions, titled "Lights (Love Sick)". While in Los Angeles, T.I.'s representative contacted Scott, asking him to attend a studio for a meeting. During the meeting, T.I. freestyled over "Animal", one of Scott's productions.
2012–14: Owl Pharaoh and Days Before Rodeo[edit]
Travis Scott's first solo full-length project is a mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh, which was set to be released as a free download in 2012. However, the project was delayed, and was announced to be slated for a later release. The project was later re-created[8] by Kanye West and Mike Dean, and was then again delayed for sample clearance issues. In promotion Scott would release the track, "Blocka La Flame", a remix of fellow GOOD Music label-mate Pusha T's single "Blocka" (which features production and vocals from Scott). The song was produced by Young Chop, with additional production by Scott himself, alongside Mike Dean. On March 22, 2013, Scott released the music video for a song titled "Quintana", set to appear on Owl Pharaoh. The mixtape's version of the song features guest vocals from fellow American rapper Wale, while the production was handled by Scott himself, alongside Sak Pase and Mike Dean. On March 27, XXL revealed that Scott was a member of their Freshman Class of 2013.[9] On March 29, 2013, following his interview with British disc jockey, DJ Semtex, Scott premiered a snippet of his commercial debut single, titled "Upper Echelon", featuring 2 Chainz and T.I. On April 2, 2013, Scott stated Owl Pharaoh was his official debut mixtape and would be released on the iTunes Store on May 21, 2013.[10] On April 23, 2013, "Upper Echelon" was sent to Urban contemporary radio.[11] The EP was released for free download.
On March 13, 2014, Scott performed a new song, tentativs Twitter account that the song is not called "1975", and would be included on his second mixtape, titled Days Before Rodeo.[12] He would later take to his Twitter account to announce Rodeo, as the official title for his major-label debut studio album.[13][14][15] On May 5, 2014, Scott released the full version of the song, with its new title "Don't Play", featuring vocals English rock band The 1975.[16][17] On July 11, 2014, "Don't Play" was officially released as the lead single from Days Before Rodeo, via digital distribution.[18]
Following the success of Days Before Rodeo, Scott announced that he would headlining a concert tour, called The Rodeo Tour, with Rich Gang's rapper Young Thug and producer Metro Boomin. The tour started on March 1, 2015 in Santa Ana, California and ended on April 1, 2015, in Portland, Oregon. The tour ran through major cities such as Denver, Colorado, Houston, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, Michigan, New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, Philadelphia, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, California and Seattle, Washington. Second shows were added to some cities such as Los Angeles and New York City, after his first shows had sold out too quickly towards the eyes of his fans. Artists such as Kanye West, Chris Brown, Wale and Birdman made special guest appearances in certain cities.[19] Scott's Rodeo Tour has been acclaimed to be one of today's wildest rap tours.[20]
2015–16: Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight[edit]
Rodeo was released on September 4, 2015, by Grand Hustle and Epic Records. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Juicy J, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Swae Lee, Chief Keef, Justin Bieber, @VXROON, Young Thug and Toro y Moi, and includes production from Mike Dean, Kanye West, WondaGurl, Suber, DJ Dahi, Metro Boomin, 1500 or Nothin', Sonny Digital, Southside, Terrace Martin, Zaytoven, Pharrell Williams and Travis Scott himself, among others. The album was supported by two singles: "3500" featuring Future and 2 Chainz, and "Antidote". The latter became his highest-charting single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 16. Rodeo received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Rap Albums chart.[21]
On January 4, 2016, Scott would announce that he has a new studio album on the way. On February 8, 2016, it was announced that iLoveMakonnen, Vic Mensa and Travis Scott, would be a part of the "WANGSQUAD", an Alexander Wang campaign.[22] On March 29, 2016, 300 Entertainment executive Lyor Cohen, revealed that Scott and Young Thug were releasing a single together and called Scott's upcoming album a "classic".[23] On April 7, 2016, Travis Scott previewed a single with Young Thug at one of his shows.[24] On May 17, 2016, Travis Scott announced that the title of his second album would be Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, while also confirming the title for his third album to be AstroWorld.[25]On June 3, 2016, the collaborative single between Thug and Scott was released, titled "Pick Up the Phone". The single, which also features vocals from Quavo of Atlanta-based rap trio Migos, reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
On August 31, 2016, Scott announced that Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight was finally finished in a post on Instagram.[26] Scott premiered the album on his third episode of .wav radio on September 2, 2016,[27] and was later released on iTunes and Apple Music. On September 11, 2016, the album became Scott's first number one album on the US Billboard 200.[28] On September 12, 2016, Universal Music Publishing Group's CEO, Jody Gerson announced that the label signed a worldwide deal with Travis Scott.[29]
In the same episode Scott premiered Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, he also announced that he would be executive producing on Kanye West's Cruel Winter, a follow up to his G.O.O.D. Music label's debut compilation Cruel Summer.[30] In the episode he described the upcoming album as, "very youthful, straight to the point, like the illest ever, man, like the illest album."
2017–present: AstroWorld[edit]
Travis Scott performed at All-Star Weekend on February 16, 2017 in New Orleans at Champion Square.[31] Scott also performed at New Orleans BUKU Music + Art Project festival on March 10, 2017.[32] On March 5, Scott announced a concert tour called "Birds Eye View".[33] The following day, the dates and cities for the tour was unveiled, with it beginning on March 10, in New Orleans, Louisiana and coming to an end on June 2, in Eugene, OR.[34] In March 2017, Scott announced he would be launching his own imprint, under the name of Cactus Jack Records.[1] During an interview, Scott said "I’m not doing it to have financial control over my music. I want first and foremost to help other artists, launch new names, to provide opportunities. I want to do for them what happened to me, but better. By better I mean no bullshit. No lying to the artists about album release dates or the budgets of videos and albums."[1] On the 15th of June 2017, Scott announced he would be doing a European leg of the "Birds Eye View Tour". The European leg started on the 23rd of June in Paris, and concluded on the 9th of July in Turku, Finland. This leg was mainly festival sets or in smaller club settings.
On April 3, 2017 it was reported Scott had been working on a collaborative album with Atlanta-based rapper Quavo of Migos, potentially to be released later in 2017.[35][36] Speaking to GQ, he confirmed: 'The Quavo album is coming soon. I’m dropping new music soon. You know how I do it though: I like surprises.[37] In addition to the collaborative album, Scott announced his third studio album AstroWorld, named after the defunct Houston theme park of the same name, is nearing completion and would most likely be released in 2017.[38][39] Scott was also featured on a track from Canadian rapper Drake's project More Life (2017), titled "Portland". The song peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming his highest charting song as a featured artist.[40]
On May 16, 2017, Scott released three new tracks on Soundcloud, after teasing on social media for some time. The tracks were named "A Man", "Green & Purple (featuring Playboi Carti)", and "Butterfly Effect". The latter was also released on every other streaming service, as the only track. The music video for "Butterfly Effect" was released on July 14, 2017. In under 24 hours, the music video already had gained over 1.7 million views.
On August 10, 2017, Scott tweeted "ALBUM MODE" as he had just finished the "DAMN. Tour" as a supporting act for Kendrick Lamar, the night before. This tweet signified that he was now working on his album "Astroworld" full-time. On August 27 2017, Travis Scott performed with Thirty Seconds to Mars at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards on their single "Walk On Water".
On September 18, 2017, Quavo and the Migos did an interview. Quavo stated that his joint album with Travis Scott is coming "real soon". He also stated that he and Travis Scott have over 20 records ready.[41]
In October 2017, Travis Scott was featured in a special piece titled "Deserve", by Chinese born Canadian rapper Kris Wu. Upon its release, "Deserve" placed No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes chart.[42]
Artistry[edit]
Influences[edit]
Musical style[edit]
Spin magazine compared his 2013 mixtape Owl Pharaoh to that of Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager.[44]
Discography[edit]
Studio albums
- Rodeo (2015)
- Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016)
Mixtapes
- Owl Pharaoh (2013)
- Days Before Rodeo (2014)
Television Appearances[edit]
| Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2013 | RapFix Live | Himself | Season 4, Episode 13: "French Montana, Fat Joe" |
| Skee Live | Himself | Season 1, Episode 2: "Featuring Action Bronson & Travis Scott" | |
| 2015 | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Himself, musical guest | Season 13, Episode 122: "Kerry Washington/Lea Michele/Travis Scott" |
| Late Night with Seth Meyers | Himself, musical guest | Season 3, Episode 38: "Seth Rogen/Leslie Odom, Jr./Travis Scott/Emily Armstrong" | |
| 2016 | Ridiculousness | Himself | Season 7, Episode 14: "Travis Scott" |
| The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Himself, musical guest | Season 13, Episode 108: "Kaley Cuoco/Sam Forbes" | |
| The Late Late Show with James Corden | Himself, musical guest | Season 2, Episode 113: "Sharon Stone/Sebastian Stan/Zach Woods/Jamie Lawson" | |
| Wild N Out | Himself, musical guest | Season 8, Episode 4: "Travis Scott" | |
| The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Himself, musical guest | Season 2, Episode 3: "Jessica Alba/Bradley Whitford/George Takei" | |
| 2017 | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Himself, musical guest | Season 15, Episode 8: "Anthony Anderson/Ruby Rose/Travis Scott" |
| Ballers | Himself | Season 3, Episode 2: "Bull Rush"
Season 3, Episode 8: "Alley-Oops"
| |
Awards and nominations[edit]
| Year | Awards | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | BET Hip Hop Awards | Best Mixtape | Owl Pharaoh | Nominated | [45] |
| 2015 | Best Mixtape | Days Before Rodeo | Nominated | [46] | |
| MTV Europe Music Awards | Artist on the Rise | Himself | Nominated | [47] | |
| 2016 | BET Hip Hop Awards | People's Champ Award | "Antidote" | Won | [48] |
| MOBO Awards | Best International Act | Himself | Nominated | [49] | |
| 2017 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year | Purpose (as a featured artist) | Nominated | [50] |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Electronic/Dance Song | "Know No Better" (with Major Lazer, Camila Cabello and Quavo) | Won | [51] |
Concert tours[edit]
Headlining
- Rodeo Tour[52] (with Young Thug and Metro Boomin) (2015)
- Birds Eye View Tour (North America and Europe)[33] (2017)
Supporting
- Never Sober Tour (with Juicy J and Project Pat) (2015)
- The Madness Tour (with The Weeknd and Banks) (2015)
- The Anti World Tour (with Rihanna and Big Sean) (2016)
- The Damn. Tour[53] (with Kendrick Lamar and D.R.A.M.) (2017)
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