Travis Scott’s “Rodeo” is a classic
I have been a big Travis Scott fan over the years, and truly think that he is one of the most influential artists in the industry today alongside Kanye West, Drake and the Migos. I started listening to Travis back in 2014 when his mixtape “Days Before Rodeo” released. I just couldn’t get enough of the album, listening to track after track feeling every vibe he had to offer. I decided to commit to his music and listen to more of his art. The next logical move was to explore a more rugged, raw and raged Travis in “Owl Pharaoh”. I absolutely loved listening to this project then and was completely crazed at his concerts in Paris in 2015 and 2017.
In September 2015, I was eager and ready to listen to Travis’s new album “Rodeo”, a highly anticipated album at the time. I had listened to Antidote all summer and couldn’t wait to hear what Travis had prepared for us. When I finally downloaded the album, I got to listen to a Travis that nobody had expected.
Songs went by as I was sent on a trip through Travis’s world without interruption. I listened to the whole album thinking: “I hope that nobody bothers me because this is gold”. Songs like “Pornography” and “90210” got my head bopping, while songs like “Oh my this side” and “Maria I’m drunk” made me sit back and feel the intense vibe that was being sent my way. “Pray 4 love” is truly amazing, integrating The Weekend seamlessly (I am listening to it right now as I am writing this passage). I finished the album feeling unstoppable, inspired and absolutely stunned with what Travis had managed to convey as an artist. Most of the songs I listened to during that first listen have been on my classic list to this day.
Fast forward to Fall 2018, I still listen to Rodeo. I still bop my head to “Oh my this side” and I still go back on “I can tell” so that I can listen to Travis’s second verse again. Rodeo stands out to me as Travis’s most artistic album.
It is now a standard, a classic in the Hip Hop / Rap industry. It may even go down as one of the best albums of the decade due to its deep connection with the listener. Most of the melodies on this album are pleasant to any ear making this album a great introduction to the modern hip-hop/trap genre. I have friends that do not listen to hip-hop and have told them that this is the first album they need to hear in order to appreciate the genre.
Travis’s later music
In 2016 Travis dropped Birds in the trap sing by McKnight, a great continuation to his previous album with its profound instrumentals and musically pleasing hooks. It is an album that I do enjoy listening to even today. In this project, he was trying to keep the Rodeo vibe alive whilst adding new flavors and different artists. The album ends up with a different feeling than Rodeo mostly because the songs don’t flow into each other the way Rodeo does. The structure of this project sounded more like a mixtape than an album to me. However, it is a great project to see live. There are a lot of bangers and intense musical moments to experience.
Two years later Travis comes out with his 3rd album Astroworld. A long-awaited project that was teased over and over again over the years. This new project resembles Rodeo in some way with all the rich musical additions and surprising features that sound fantastic. The way Travis put together the feature with Stevie Wonder’s harmonica and James Blakes singing in the back on “STOP TRYING TO BE GOD” is beautiful. It reminds me of the way he got Justin Bieber in the studio with Young Thug and himself. I strongly believe that some of the songs on Astroworld were left-overs from a perfect Rodeo, that just didn’t have there a place on the album. Songs like STARGAZING have the same musical feeling as the 2015 album. This album still has a Rodeo feeling to it, but cannot be considered as a game-changer. We knew what to expect from Travis this time around, and because we still haven’t gotten enough of Travis’s old work, we are still craving his musical genius.
What makes Rodeo stand out
Rodeo was an attempt to make an entire album around the raw Houston-druggy trap theme. Rodeo really takes you on an adventure through Travis’s high and his way of seeing the world. There is a real atmosphere that is created in his piece of work. I honestly think that Tr1avis didn’t set out to make a masterpiece out of Rodeo. It was his first album with major features and more like a musical experiment. Nobody was really familiar with his overwhelming instrumentals or half-dead/zombie sounding vocals. Nowadays his musical style is well recognized and has in some way morphed from Rodeo. People may disagree, Travis Scott accidentally struck gold when he put together this track-list. The timing was perfect as was the delivery, making Rodeo a game-changer for the entire genre.
All of this results in an album that is enjoyed even today, 3 years after its official release and will continue to be a favorite for many fans.
What are your opinions on Rodeo? Please share what you think about Travis in general, I would love to debate!
PS: If you agree that there is a need for more Album reviews on Medium, hit the clap button, I am planning on writing more of these.
