What can I say? Travis Scott delivered nothing less than a phenomenal album. With La Flame being one of my favorite rappers, I was beyond eager to hear what he’s been cooking up since his last album Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight. When Astroworld dropped, my first thoughts were how impressive this album was in its entirety; the features, the production, and even the damn rollout! In comparison to his last albums, you can hear how much more effort and hard work he put into Astroworld.
Let’s dive into the features – Travis has 21 Savage, Frank Ocean, Drake, Nav, The Weeknd, Takeoff, Quavo, Swae Lee, Juice Wrld, Sheck Wes, Gunna, James Blake, and Don Toliver. What I noticed about these features wasn’t about how they contributed to the album, but more so of how well balanced the features were throughout the album. They weren’t overwhelming, which I appreciate immensely. They gave just enough to the track that they were on. One feature that I questioned why they were even on the album period was Nav. I already am not a fan of him, but the short verse he had on ‘Yosemite’ left me saying, “Okay? Where’s the rest?” I know that he was on Travis’ ‘Biebs In The Trap’ song (and actually had an enjoyable verse), but Nav’s part sounded like Travis said “I got you again on the next project, bro”. Then Nav came up with the laziest verse because it was gong to end up on the album regardless. Let’s just say I expected nothing but greatness from Travis Scott, so I hold the same sentiment when it comes to the features that he chooses.
The Production – I already knew the production was going to be out of this world, due to Travis Scott being a producer himself and having an ear for dope sounds. When I got my hands on the production list, I was very content with who was apart of making the beats. I was especially happy to see Wondagurl contribute her talents to Astroworld, even though I wasn’t surprised. She’s been working with Travis for a very, very long time. I can tell that Travis put production first on his priority list with this album. With him placing ‘Stargazing’ as the first song on Astroworld, it most definitely set the tone with how the rest of the album is going to sound. Allow me to stay on ‘Stargazing’ for a second. The switch up of instrumentals in that song was wicked. I found myself replaying the last half again, again, and again. On ‘Sicko Mode’, there are literally three different moods in that song. The first beat has a standout organ that beautifully sets the pace underneath Drake’s prelude to his upcoming verse later on in the song. The middle beat has the perfect “nod your head” type of feel to it. The last beat carried the song out nicely with its bass-heavy tempo. On ‘Stop Trying To Be God’, words cannot express how colossal this instrumental is. Overtime, this became my favorite song on the album. A lot of that has to do with the intensity that beat brings to the song. You can feel a vibe switch immediately when this song comes on (a good vibe, of course). This beat has so much going on and I appreciate that. It’s layered flawlessly. I’m glad this song is one of the longer songs on the album because I never want it to end.
The Rollout – La Flame deciding to pair the purchases of his albums with tour passes and merchandise is genius. Even releasing different pieces of merchandise each day was a great tactic for him. It left his fans anxious and eager to buy exclusive clothing and pre-sale passes. When he released the cover to his album that even caused an uproar; some good, some bad, but overall a nice homage to a once-standing amusement park in Travis’ hometown, Houston.
Honestly, the last time I thoroughly enjoyed an album’s release like I did with Astroworld was Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. Travis Scott managed to gain a ton of new fans while retaining and even establishing a sense of trust with his core fan base showing that he can and will produce superior and timeless music.
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