At only 20 years old, Travi$ Scott’s music has already taken him quite a few places, even if he isn’t famous enough to be recognized in any of them yet. He’s lived on the east and west coasts, as well as the “third coast” of his native Houston, Texas, but has seen exotic locales while traveling with the most famous of his early fans, Kanye West. Since meeting early last year, the two have spent countless hours in the studio, the fruits of which can be heard on “Sin City,” Scott’s standout contribution to the G.O.O.D. Music compilation album, Cruel Summer. In his verse, Scott paints a vivid picture of a girl caught up in the allure of the fast life: She stepped into hell, cause when it got cold/Don’t look in her eyes, you might see straight to her soul/Don’t say yes to that good cause you’ll never know/Cause we lost in the city, where sin is no biggie! he raps. The charge is something Scott himself can identify with, his music career having taken flight at an astronomical speed over the course of just a few short years.

Travi$ Scott grew up in Houston the son of a drummer and grandson of a music scholar, bitten himself by the music bug after witnessing the showmanship of late 90’s rap videos from Mase and Diddy and then later on, experiencing the revolutionary production of Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. Scott began making beats when he was just 17 and sought out the tutelage of the local names he had access to, who just so happened to be dirty south hip-hop legends N.O. Joe and Mike Dean. It wasn’t long after that he would venture out to New York to see what he was actually made of. “I’m really into depicting what’s in my life,” Scott says. “Anything I say in these verses, that’s who I am. Those are real stories.” Things didn’t quite take off the way he imagined in New York, Scott having to couch surf when money got low, so he bounced to Los Angeles for another fresh start. The leap of faith paid off with Scott catching the ear of the “King of the South” himself, T.I., who signed him immediately through his GrandHustle/Epic imprint. With Scott working with T.I., it wasn’t long before Kanye West got wind of him, both superstars still utilizing the young prodigy whenever possible.

And though he continues to work on music with his mentors, Travi$ Scott’s own Owl Pharaoh EP is soon to set the world ablaze, Scott using everything he’s learned from his forefathers to make the project he’s sure will satisfy a rapidly growing fanbase. “People are gonna feel the imagery, what my life consists of, what the world of Travi$ Scott is,” he says. “What is this kid thinking? Who is this kid? What is he trying to tell us? That’s what they gone feel through these songs.” So far they’ve had only morsels to chew on, but the demand grows with each leak like “Blocka,” the song he co-produced with Young Chop and raps on with Pusha T, or the super-stylized “Quintana” video or the riot-inducing, Mike Will-produced, “Pus$$y,” which features Chuck Inglish, Fredo Santana and Gunplay. Travi$ Scott has collaborated with some of the biggest names in rap and he hasn’t even released his EP yet. “It’s like becoming friends,” Scott says of his music. “Once people get to hang around you more and more, they’ll start to understand you. They’ll either catch on or they’ll get left behind.” And soon enough, the world will know what so many of our favorite rappers already do: That Travi$ Scott is the future.

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