As far as consistency, you can't do much better than Travis Scott right now. The 25-year-old artist has grown to be one of the biggest acts in rap, and he's done it with a tireless campaign of solo material, collaborations, and a live show that makes headlines on a nightly basis.
Ever since Travis dropped Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight in September, 2016, he's been on a war path of outdoing his previous achievements, which includes two tours and two projects this year. To get a sense of just how active he's been, we've put together a list of his biggest moments over the last nine months.
Travis says he's executive producing Cruel Winter
Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight wasn't even out a week when Travis visited Hot 97 and revealed on the airwaves that he would be executive producing G.O.O.D. Music's Cruel Winter. The timeline for its release has been derailed (Travis said it would come this February), but clearly Kanye put enough stock into the Houston representative to let him helm this highly anticipated project. That's definitely a confidence booster.
Success of BITTSM and huge publishing deal
We can't move forward in the storyline without acknowledging the success of Travis' sophomore album. He leveled up with the release of Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and moved 88,000 equivalent album units in its first week. That same week, he locked in a worldwide publishing deal with Universal.
ComplexCon performance
Not to toot our own horn, but Travis did debut the set design currently used for his Birds Eye View Tour at ComplexCon, where he lit up Long Beach Arena for a performance that sets the bar for future ComplexCon events to come. He also got to share the stage with one of his biggest influences in Kid Cudi. A major night, to say the least.
Travis appears on Kid Cudi's Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'
Those who have followed Travis' career know how much Kid Cudi means to him (“Kid Cudi was my guy,” he told Complex, “if I had no weed, he was my drug"). It was monumental then when he joined Cudi on "Baptized in Fire" off Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin'. Another item to check off the bucket list.
Shut out of 2017 Grammy nominations
Count this as a humbling experience for Travis, who up until this point was cruising off some major Ws. "So hurt man," he said in December when the 2017 Grammy nominations came out and he was nowhere to be found. It would be fair to say that Travis used this as motivation, who later in the month promised more beats, a tour, and his third studio release Astroworld in 2017.
Studio session with DJ Khaled, Mariah Carey, and Migos
Leave it to DJ Khaled to bring Travis, Migos and Mariah together under one roof. Whatever they worked on will presumably be for Khaled's upcoming album Grateful, and if it does drop, expect La Flame's stock to rise even more.
Joining Drake and Quavo on "Portland"
Five months into 2017 and Drake's More Life is (obviously) still one of the biggest drops of the year. And while "Portland" hasn't been released as an official single, the song has reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. You can credit its success to Travis and Quavo, who laid down the energy for Drake to feed off of on the Murda Beatz-produced track. If you've seen "Portland" performed live, you know it rings off.
"Portland" caps off some notable guest appearances from Travis this year, who's also worked with Migos ("Kelly Price"), Wale ("Fish n Grits"), and his Fate of the Furious collaboration alongside Lil Uzi Vert and Quavo.
Travis previews new music with Quavo
Speaking of Quavo, Travis finally previewed a few tracks from their upcoming collaborative album in early April. More recently, Travis teased it could be a surprise drop. Though it's more likely to come later than sooner, don't expect much warning when he and Quavo decide to hit us with it.
Cozying up to Kylie Jenner
This may not be music-related, but let's keep it real: being linked to a Kardashian or Jenner is emblematic of your status in the game. Sorry, Tyga.
Arrested for "inciting a riot" in Arkansas
This incident may have a negative connotation attached to it, but after speaking to fans who attended Travis' concert in Rogers, Arkansas, it sounds like the venue and security weren't aware of just how wild his shows get. It wouldn't be far off in saying Travis' live show is a must-attend for the ragers out there.
Late-night SoundCloud drop
Travis may have been a little late on the release of his new music, but he certainly delivered this week with three cuts to add to the catalog. It's unclear if any of these tracks will appear on Astroworld, but we wouldn't rule any of them out either. In 2015, Travis dropped "Antidote" as a loosie on SoundCloud; that song would later appear on his debut album Rodeo. Also in late 2015, Travis shared "Wonderful," his collaboration with the Weeknd. Nine months later, it was the album closer for Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight.
If there's anything we've learned over the last nine months, it's that Travis has no plans of slowing down. Astroworld, a Quavo collab project, Birds Eye View Tour and Kendrick Lamar's Damn Tour, and possibly Cruel Winter? Travis is on pace to have his biggest year yet.
