Travis Scott has grown to be one of the most successful artists in the current state of hip-hop, and he’s dropped his biggest release yet in the form of ASTROWORLD. According to Travis, ASTROWORLD has taken years to create and is the end product that all of his other projects have prepared the listeners for. First is was Days Before Rodeo, Rodeo, the diversion to Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight, and now ASTROWORLD.
Before even listening to the tracks, the sheer length of 17 tracks paired with an insane list of features is staggering to say the least. The features on Astroworld include Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, Drake, The Weekend, and Swae Lee. In addition, he’s also worked with fellow Houston producer Mike Dean throughout the past few months to polish up the project. Dean’s production work can most recently be heard on the string of Kanye West releases including ye, KIDS SEE GHOSTS, DAYTONA, and Nasir.
Even though the album consists of 17 tracks, the entire project is only 58 minutes long. When listening to ASTROWORLD from start to finish, the album feels significantly longer. This is due to the frequent change ups and beat switches throughout many of the tracks; which in turn provides to be ingenious in the long run when hearing all of the tracks together.
Travis Scott isn’t known for standing out vocally, and nothing changes on his new album. After hearing the masterful production displayed throughout the entirety of ASTROWORLD, the music and production work is so strong that everyone including Travis sounds incredible. Early standout tracks so far include “STARGAZING”, “5% TINT”, “STOP TRYING TO BE GOD”, and “WAKE”.
One of the most intriguing aspects of ASTROWORLD is the fantasyland theme; which is basically a theme park on another planet. Travis Scott plays on this idea from start to finish, and it’s widely successful. While it creates an interesting image and theme for the project, it also has a double meaning behind the creative drive and vision behind ASTROWORLD. When listening to the full album, Travis has made it clear that the idea of “Astroworld” reflects ideas and sounds that are so far fetched and creative that it cannot happen on earth. As a result, there are no rules for any of the songs in relation to structure and form, sound, and even keeping the same beat for an entire song.
For years Travis Scott has repeatedly promised his fans that ASTROWORLD will be his best project yet, and it’s clear from listening from start to finish that nobody will be disappointed. From the features, beat change ups, and the masterful production, all of these elements combined prove that Travis indeed spent years to refine and polish the album. For every track, he’s unleashed complete creative control. He’s thrown out out all the rules and expectations put on him and as a result has delivered a masterpiece that isn’t only authentic to him, but to the world of hip-hop as well.
He did everything we as fans were hoping for him to do: to blow apart and challenge all of the boundaries within hip-hop. With this release, Travis Scott has proved that he’s still one of the top producers in hip-hop as well as one of the most creative ones as well.
