Travis Scott – Rodeo Review

Will La Flame live forever with this release?

The answer is yes.

Rodeo is the highly anticipated debut album for artist Travis Scott. Now, there are some doubters out there who believed that Travis Scott could not hold his own on an album. Those doubters will most likely turn to supporters when they hit play on Rodeo. With help from producers Mike Dean, Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin’, Allen Ritter, WondaGurl, Kanye West and among others – Rodeo production is like no other.

Travis brings bars on this album. His bars and delivery are stronger represented on this album than his previous projects Owl Pharaoh and Days Before Rodeo. The lyrics are the usual topics Travis Scott raps about – anti-establishment, lost in love, overindulgence in drug use and liquor. In other words, it’s lit.

The album has a cast of guest appearances featuring Quavo (Migos), Future, 2 Chainz, Juicy J, The Weeknd, Swae Lee (Rae Sremmurd), Chief Keef, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Young Thug, Toro y Moi and ScHoolboy Q. T.I. also makes an appearance, as he narrates throughout the album.

The deluxe edition includes two bonus tracks – Ok Alright (featuring ScHoolboy Q) and Never Catch Me.

Singles, 3500 and Antidote are featured on the album. Antidote is the first track to get the music video treatment, as Travis released a teaser earlier this week.

Oh My Dis Side finds Travis reminiscing about what it took for him to make it big while giving props to his hometown of Houston, Texas. The track features a great transition from Oh My into Dis Side, two completely different sounds.

Rodeo slows down a bit at Track 5 – 90120, but the guitar riffs on this keeps the track bumping. The first verse finds Travis speaking about a girl who grew up and lived a good life in the valley, but it took a turn for the worst when she gets into drugs. The track then turns to Travis speaking in third person expressing how he soon joined the girl in her “medicated” activities.

Pray 4 Love deals with world problems, racism, personal issues, and among other things. This is something different from Travis. World problems and racism are topics that are not usually heard in a Travis Scott song, but it works for this album. The Weeknd sings the hook and also has a verse.

Album picks back up on Track 7 – Nightcrawler. This will no doubt become be a radio and club hit. The track features Swae Lee and Chief Keef. The song is your typical “order more bottles” and “let’s get lit” anthem.

Piss On Your Grave (featuring Kanye West) has a very Jimi Hendrix sound to it. It’s very heavy guitar centric with some deep drugged out bass. This track was originally planned for Kanye West’s 7^th solo album, SWISH, and was to feature Paul McCartney, but plans changed. The concept of the track is a loud announcement to the executives of corporate America in stating a takeover is about to happen.  I personally would have liked the song to be a bit longer. It’s the shortest song on the album at 2:46. The sound and the lyrics makes you want more from this duo, but it does serves as a great segue into Antidote.

Rodeo is a solid debut album for Travis Scott, it features his signature sound turned up to a 10. It’s refreshing to hear a Hip-Hop/Rap album in 2015 use so much guitar. As stated, the production on Rodeo is top notch. Producer, Mike Dean guitar riffs throughout the album are great and add so much to the songs it is used on. I also enjoyed that every song (excluding the bonus tracks) is a continuation of the previous song. This album has a high replay value; do not be shocked if you hear this album being played throughout the rest of this year going into the New Year.

Definitely give this album a listen. Straight Up!

– Journalist Without A Beat

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