Travis Scott

Travis Scott
Birth name	Jacques Bermon Webster II
Also known as	Travi$ Scott, Huncho Jack, La Flame, TravvyPatty, Trav
Born	April 30, 1991
Origin	Houston, TX
Genre	Hip Hop, Trap, Rap
Occupation	Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, Record Producer, Fashion Designer
Years active	2007-Present
Record label	Cactus Jack Records, Epic Records, Grand Hustle, Very GOOD Beats (Previously)
Associated acts	Don Toliver, Sheck Wes, Young Thug, Future, Kid Cudi, Quavo, Kanye West, Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, The Weeknd, The Graduates, The Classmates

Jacques Webster II "Travis Scott" (born April 30, 1991), is an American rapper and record producer from Houston, Texas. He is known for his critically-acclaimed music, fashion, and business ventures that include but are not limited to, The Travis Scott Meal, ASTROWORLD FESTIVAL, and his many collaborations with Nike.

THE CLASSMATES/THE GRADUATES

The first recorded instance of him making music was in 2007, where he and his high school friend Christopher Jones (Under the name Chris Holloway) had signed up for MySpace on April 18, 2007 under the moniker, "The Graduates". Many songs from this time are lost, including an EP titled "The Graduates EP" that is extremely unfinished. However, from certain leaks we can see that The Graduates were going to try and be signed to Kanye West's GOOD MUSIC label with a freestyle-remix of "Say You Will" from 808s & Heartbreak . On April 7, 2009, Travis and Jason Eric, also known as OG Chess, had signed up for MySpace under "The Classmates", where they released an EP and a few mixtapes, with the most notable being Cruis'n USA which released on June 2, 2011, being titled after the famous Nintendo 64 game. Eventually the group had disbanded, with Cruis'n USA being their final project alongside a now partially-lost deluxe version.

OWL PHARAOH

Around mid to late 2011, a new EP titled "Owl Pharaoh" was in the works, with the earliest tracklist being shown on September 14th, 2011 on Twitter and preserved by a KTT user. However, after meeting rappers T.I. and Kanye West, he was persuaded to rework the EP into a mixtape. Travis had collaborated with artists such as Kanye West, T.I., Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Wale, Common, Toro y Moi, and Gunplay. Despite this, Both Common and Gunplay did not make it to the album, with there only being features from Theophilus London, A$AP Ferg, James Fauntleroy, and Paul Wall. Owl Pharaoh was planned to be released alongside GOOD Music's Cruel Summer, however sample clearance issues had prevented it from being released In order to promote the mixtape, a remix of Pusha T's "Blocka" titled "Blocka La Flame" was released. On March 22, 2013, the second single, Quintana, featuring Wale was released along with a music video. Owl Pharaoh's third single, Upper Echelon, featuring T.I and 2 Chainz was released as a single on iTunes on April 18, 2013 with a music video to accompany it releasing on June 16, 2013. Eventually, on May 21, 2013, Owl Pharaoh was released to critical acclaim, with Pitchfork saying "Owl Pharaoh stands on its own as a testament to Scott’s talent and undeniable newness"

Days Before Rodeo

Days Before Rodeo was kept under secrecy before it's release, as it's only a compilation of songs that (mostly) didn't make the cut for Rodeo, however it is speculated by KTT members that an album nicknamed, "Fuego" was in development and was planned to release in September of 2013, however it was indefinitely pushed back to 2014 until it was changed to Rodeo in late March (Latest possible time). On August of 2014, Travis Scott had announced that he was going to release ten songs in a month, with him then announcing the title of the mixtape to be "Days Before Rodeo". On July 11, 2014 the single Don't Play featuring Big Sean and The 1975 had released, along with a Music Video ton August 18, 2014. Eventually, Days Before Rodeo was released on August 18, 2014 with a 11 (12 featuring BACC) song long tracklist. The mixtape was showered critical acclaim, with a 96% approval rate on HotNewHipHop. After the release, fan favorite Mamacita featuring Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan was released as a single along with a music video, with the beginning as the intro track The Prayer.

Rodeo

Rodeo was first teased in mid-2013, being referred to as "Fuego" by KTT members , however we don't know much about the 2013-2014 versions of Rodeo besides certain insiders. Our first snippet of music actually from Rodeo was in March of 2015, where at a Chicago meet and greet Travis had played five songs considered for the album, with two songs actually making the album, Maria I'm Drunk (Called Drunk at the time) and Oh My Dis Side (Called Oh My at the time). One of the songs, being Man of My City, turned into a French Montana song. The other song, Dinosaurus, featuring the late Yung Mazi, was played and eventually scrapped. Despite the short tracklist of the songs played, 3500, 90210, Never Catch Me, Pray 4 Love, and Wasted were all made but their consideration for the album at this time is unknown. Many features from the album were considered but later changed, such as Kanye West and Rick Ross on 3500, Pharrell Williams on Flying High, Tinashe and T.I. on Never Catch Me, Yung Lean on Wasted, and The Weeknd on Nightcrawler (Titled "Night Call" at the time.) to name a few. In order to promote the album, Travis had announced The Rodeo Tour with Young Thug and Metro Boomin, which had went from California, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Toronto, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and more. On June 8, 2015, the lead single for Rodeo was released, being 3500 featuring Future and 2 Chainz. 3500 did well, peaking at 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and being certified gold by the RIAA on January 11, 2017. Four days later on June 12, 2015, the track Maria I'm Drunk (Titled Drunk at the time.) was leaked, with it only featuring Young Thug and being drastically different from the release version . The second single, Antidote, was released on July 28, 2015 to peak at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and go platinum four times . Due to the single's popularity, a music video was released on September 18, 2015 with cameos from models Yaris Sanchez and Ayisha Diaz, with rapper Rich Hil also making a cameo. Finally, on September 4, 2015, Rodeo had released to critical acclaim, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, getting 85,00 copies in it's first week, and receiving a 6.0 from Pitchfork . On the same day a deluxe titled, "Rodeo (Expanded Edition) came out, adding the tracks Ok Alright featuring Schoolboy Q and Never Catch Me. However, for three years the song Maria I'm Drunk was unavailable on streaming services and only released on paid versions . A year after release, the song 90210 had gotten a music video directed by Hype Williams depicting Travis Scott in an action figure world.

Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight

Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, Travis Scott's second studio album, had supposedly started development around mid to late 2015, as leaks and previews were around this time. Originally, it was conceived seen as a "stepping stone" to Travis's third album Astroworld, with there being less time spent on it. One of the first tracks previewed was the unreleased Left Cheek Right Cheek, which was played in November of 2015, along with Money Power Respect featuring Meek Mill being made and teased around this time. Despite it not being previewed, Wonderful, was first recorded on November 10, 2015, with another song called "Too Many Chances" being recorded around this time according to infamous leaker group Music Mafia. It's also theorized that a different song, Pipeline Good, was made around this time as Travis had discussed in an October 2015 interview. A month later, another scrapped track Easy was previewed sometime in December, however any source for this was deleted. On December 31, 2015, Wonderful featuring The Weeknd was premiered on Travis's Soundcloud prior to it being sent to radio stations as the album's lead single on February 16, 2016. 2016 is when Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight had started to fully come into fruition, with multiple tracks being formed. Around January to February, the tracks RaRa and Forgive Me were created along with Left Cheek Right Cheek also being worked on at this time, as they were played at a club sometime in February. During January mixes were starting to be created for songs that were finished at the time, with a remix of Uber Everywhere being mixed on January 31. Sometime in February or March, the later-to be single "Pick Up The Phone" was recorded as a Young Thug and Quavo song featuring Starrah. At the time, the album was called "Tina" but Quavo's line in Pick Up The Phone singing, "Birds in the trap sing Brian McKnight" had influenced Travis to rethink the album's title, with Travis stating, "Nothing to do with Brian McKnight but the title came from me, Quavo and Thug working on “Pick Up The Phone.” Young Quavius was rapping, bouncing off ideas, and I was letting him know the story and the vibe of my album so when he was doing his verse, dude just says “Birds in the trap sing Brian McKnight.” I ran in the booth and I was like, 'Bro, this is it!'". On March 30, 2016, both Travis Scott and Young Thug announced their new song (Pick Up The Phone) was releasing in a few days, however it wouldn't arrive. Eventually, Pick Up The Phone was released on June 3, 2016, with it later being taken down from iTunes, making Travis "leak" it onto his SoundCloud. Shortly after, Travis complained, "This song was supposed to go to iTunes, but labels are making this more complicated than it actually need to be this was gonna be my single, but now I'm giving a way for the kids. P.S. They might take this down cause they don't want kids to eat". On July 26, 2016, Travis Scott announced the release date during a show at the Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island, however the release date would be missed twice because of "technical difficulties". On August 13, 2016 the music video for Pick Up The Phone had released preceding the announcement of Kid Cudi and Kendrick Lamar features. Kid Cudi's feature was personal to Travis, as he saw him as both an idol and influence, with Travis previously writing a college essay about him. Another desired feature was for André 3000 to narrate The Ends, however Travis was unable to get André to appear, thus making him narrate it himself. After a delay from August 25, 2016 due to incompletion of the album's mixing, Travis Scott finally announced the album was coming out on September 2 on August 31, 2016. When Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight released on August 31, 2016, it debuted with a No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200 and had achieved 88,000 sales in it's first week. Three months later on December 13, 2016, Goosebumps featuring Kendrick Lamar was released as the albums third and last single along with an Apple Music exclusive music video following on April 3, 2017

Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho

Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho was Travis Scott's collaboration with southern hip hop rapper Quavo. Not much information comes from this era, however work started shortly after Travis Scott's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. The first mention of the album came from Travis after an interview on April 3, 2017 with newsletter GQ. When asked about a possible collaborative album with Quavo releasing in 2017, Travis stated, "The Quavo album is coming soon. I'm dropping new music soon. You know how I do it though: I like surprises". On August 10, 2017, after opening for Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. Tour, Travis tweeted, "ALBUM MODE", on August 10, 2017, signaling he was working on both his collaborative album with Quavo and his upcoming Astroworld. On September 18, 2017, when the Migos were interviewed, Quavo stated the collaborative album with Travis Scott was coming soon, adding on that they had over 20 records ready. On December 7, 2017, Quavo was interviewed by Zane Lowe, with one of the questions being about the title for the collaborative album, to which he confirmed it was, "Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho". Finally, three weeks after the Zane Lowe interview, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho was released to favorable reviews and a number 3 spot on the Billboard 200.

ASTROWORLD

ASTROWORLD was announced on May 17, 2016 via now defunct social media Vine before his sophomore album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight was released. Despite Travis seeing Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight as a stepping stone to ASTROWORLD, a lack of songs were recorded besides throwaways such as Back Of My Benz (Also known as BOMB), Need The Gas, and Family. Due to Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho being worked on around this time, work on ASTROWORLD had minimal work done. Production and recording was still slightly undeterred, as in an interview from March 2017 Travis discussed his meaning behind the reason why he chose the abandoned theme park as the title for his album, saying, "They tore down AstroWorld to build more apartment space. That's what it's going to sound like, like taking an amusement park away from kids. We want it back. We want the building back. That's why I'm doing it. It took the fun out of the city.". Around this time, the later-throwaway and unrealased A Man and Laptop would be previewed in their early stages. When Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho was finished, full-time development on the album continued sometime around late-2017, with even more throwaways being created. The rollout officially started on May 16, 2017, almost a year after the album was announced with the lead single BUTTERFLY EFFECT being uploaded to Soundcloud, along with the previously mentioned throwaways, A Man and Green & Purple featuring Playboi Carti, with the song being one of the first of their many collaborations. BUTTERFLY EFFECT did well on release, peaking at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. 2018 is when ASTROWORLD started to fully come into formation, with most songs on the track list coming to fruition this year. On April 24, 2018, the future single Watch was teased on Travis Scott's wife at the time, Kylie Jenner's Snapchat with Kanye West teasing it on Twitter the day after. On May 4, Watch was released as the album's second single with it featuring Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West was released, originally being the second single for the album, with a music video being released a week later as a Spotify exclusive. Throughout July, the album was being finished with the last takes being recorded and producers such as Travis's right hand man Mike Dean, WondaGurl, Wheezy, Gunna, Don Toliver, and more in Hawaii. Songs such as Afterparty by Don Toliver were conceived in this sessions, with it originally having a Travis Scott Feature. On July 27, 2018 golden sculptures of Travis Scott's head had appeared on an Amoeba Music store in Los Angeles along with multiple other locations, generating hype for ASTROWORLD. Three days later, ASTROWORLD was officially announced with an album trailer featuring the intro track STARGAZING. A day later on August 1, transgender model Armanda Lepore had questioned why she was excluded from the alternate version of the cover featuring models instead of children and attractions. The photographer, LaChapelle, later responded clarifying that, "Amanda was taken out because she just upstaged everyone,". The next day Don Toliver's debut mixtape DONNY WOMACK was released as a promotion for ASTROWORLD leading up to his verse on CAN'T SAY. Before being shipped out to streaming services, the final tracklist was made, with the song WHO? WHAT? being a last minute addition and an outro after COFFEE BEAN, possibly WATCH, was planned to be on the album before being taken out. However, the tracklist shows that the song may not have been mixed and mastered yet, which contradicts the already-released WATCH. ASTROWORLD released to critical acclaim, debuting at Number 1 on the Billboard 200. Larry Fitzmaurice of Pitchfork described ASTROWORLD as, "-his [Travis Scott's] strongest to date. His skill as a curator helps sculpt a sticky, humid, psychedelic world with dazzling production and odd pleasures at every turn." with being given a 7.8/10. On the same day of ASTROWORLD's release, Travis Scott played three unreleased tracks with Chase B on an episode of his WAV RADIO Apple Music show, premiering Houdini featuring Playboi Carti, Zoom featuring Gunna, and Part Time.

Studio albums

• 2015: Rodeo
• 2016: Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
• 2018: ASTROWORLD
• 2023: UTOPIA

Collaborative albums

• 2017: Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho (with Quavo as Huncho Jack)
• 2019: JACKBOYS (With Cactus Jack)

Mixtapes

• 2011: Cruis'n USA
• 2013: Owl Pharaoh
• 2014: Days Before Rodeo

Collaborative EPs

• ????: The Graduates
• 2011: THE CLA$$MATE$ EP