How Did We Get to Astroworld?

After a two year wait, Travis Scott finally released ASTROWORLD on August 3rd. The album’s delays had become a joke in themselves. However, upon release, the album brought Travis acclaim he had never before received. Up until this release, Scott’s album discography consisted of Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, albums that earned more profit than critical praise. He also had become a staple feature artists, adding his vocals to hit after hit. So how did Scott reach his own peak of critical and commercial success on ASTROWORLD? It was just a matter of him taking his time.

It would be easy to describe Scott’s career arc as linear, but that would be a bit unfair. When he released his first mixtape, Owl Pharaoh, he was already signed to Kanye West’s GOOD Music. Because of his long time connection to West, many listeners think of him as a GOOD Music artists and attribute his rise in popularity to that claim. This claim is true, partially. Scott is actually only signed to GOOD as a producer, under the “Very GOOD beats” imprint. This gets a bit confusing as Scott rarely ever has solo production credits on others’ songs, and only a few on his own. This means that his albums are not released through GOOD Music and never have been, they have always been released by Grand Hustle records.

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