ASTROWORLD, by Travis Scott, was possibly the most anticipated album of all of 2018, and when it arrived fans were not disappointed by the artist. Bringing several different sounds from previous projects, he may have delivered the album of the year.
STARGAZING – Stargazing makes three consecutive album intros where Scott shows why so many fans were waiting for the album. The song starts with a slow melody which transitions into an out-of-this-world beat with Scott’s iconic autotune voice. The song continues this way until another transition in which he drops the autotune and raps one of the best lines from the album, “I’m way too gold for this beef, I feel like Kobe.” — 9/10
CAROUSEL – Whenever we hear anything from Frank Ocean it is a certified hit. A sample to start the song before building suspense and leading a throwback Beastie Boys sample. Scott delivers bars of a flexing lifestyle before Ocean drowns him out with a soothing and psychedelic hook. — 8/10
SICKO MODE – A triumphant beginning leading to a feature by possibly one of the best artists currently making music. Drake begins with subtle flexes while getting listeners ready for a song transition led by Scott. This song is the albums best ride; strange drums, great vocals, and an even better beat. All this fun just to add a beat by arguably one of the hottest producers. The tag by Tay Keith won’t slip by anyone who knows his iconic beat types. Three songs in one, Scott is truly showing fans what took this album so long to release. — 10/10
R.I.P. SCREW – We get to this tribute of a Houston legend, DJ Screw. Travis pays homage by slowing the song down like a vintage song from Screw himself. He once again is accompanied by Swae Lee, who may be one of the best hook/feature artists currently in music. We also hear both artists flexibility as they both usually rap on more up-tempo beats. — 9/10
STOP TRYING TO BE GOD – 9/10
NO BYSTANDERS – Personal favorite alert. Best song on the album, 10/10 performance from Scott and up-and-coming rapper Juice WRLD. We get a brief slow start with vocals from Juice WRLD before the song takes a complete 180 and Scott dives in head first accompanied by ad-libs from Sheck Wes, a lot like a highly anticipated roller coaster, which is ironic due to the theme of the album. Anyone else buys tickets for the ASTROWORLD tour? I have. — 10/10
SKELETONS – 8/10
WAKE UP – Yet another Abel feature, although this one is very different from the one on SKELETONS. The song starts with broken guitar strums, and this is a side of Scott we don’t see often. A more romantic song where both he and The Weeknd are possibly serenading their current lovers. — 8/10
5% TINT – 7/10
NC-17 – Yet another song with a new Travis Scott voice? Are you not entertained? With a soft voice flow over what sounds like wind chimes, we are also given an outstanding verse from 21 Savage. 21 comes in strong and steals the limelight from Scott on this one. The verse from 21 was so fire that Scott had no choice but just to add one last chorus and let the song close out on a high note. — 10/10
ASTROTHUNDER –8/10
YOSEMITE – Gunna has found the Young Thug flow fountain. The flow, the switching of pitches has Thug written all over it. Needless to say, Gunna stole the show on this one. Travis and Gunna are so good you nearly forget that Nav has a nice short verse at the end of the song you can barely even hear. Side note: Gunna is on the verge of becoming a breakout star in the rap game. — 8/10
CAN’T SAY – Sometimes Scott sounds like he can be a third member of Rae Sremmurd. A verse from a slightly lesser known rapper Don Toliver nearly steals the show yet again, showing that Scott may have made the right choice gathering the features and production he did for this seemingly perfect album. — 8/10
WHO? WHAT! – A Huncho/Jack song? You’d think this would be played out after the whole tape released earlier this year, but no. This song sounds different from the rest of the album yet again. It is impressive how Travis Scott can sound perfect with almost every artist he features with, but with two-thirds of the Migos, it’s almost like he is the long-lost member that they have been waiting for. — 8/10
BUTTERFLY EFFECT – This song was released over a year before ASTROWORLD was released. And even though I was hearing it for the millionth time, listening during the album gave the song new life and fitted into the framework of the album perfectly. It is perfect because it does not fit the entire album sound ranges into all different avenues of hip-hop. — 9/10
HOUSTONFORNICATION — 9/10
COFFEE BEAN – Another good album outro. This song serves as a reflection track looking at his relationship with Kylie Jenner. The chill mellow beat may be the best of the entire album. The trend rappers have with outros being reflecting songs is a great approach, I stan. — 10/10
Final reflection: Travis Scott picked the perfect name and theme for this album. The album from start to finish is definitely a day at an Amusement park with several different rides and games to play while in attendance. It’s obvious why this album debuted at number 1 and is still number 1 on the charts. Personally, this may be my favorite Travis Scott album which is saying a lot because both Rodeo and Birds were awesome projects.
Overall grade — 9.5/10