Travis Scott is something like a enigma. We know he’s a wild one and with every new move, we can derive our own set of words to describe him. But still, there’s no way to categorize the Houston-bred rapper. Unique, maybe? Or, to use his own words, “a nerd.”
“All my niggas is nerds,” he said. “Like, if we’re in the computer lab and you don’t know how to code your HTML, you out of here, my nigga.”
Travis, along with Zendaya Coleman, is on the December/January cover of Complex. In the issue, he discusses his debut album Rodeo, addresses comparisons, airs out frustrations and more.
His cover story, like himself, keeps folks on edge all the while ducking for, well, cover because at any given moment he just might implode. Good old, Travis.
And while he didn’t offer many words about his rumored girlfriend, he described her in three words; “creative,” “inspiring” and “muse.”
On Summer Jam Incident And Perception People Have Of Him:
“It’s because I’m black and I wear certain kind of things and rap about certain things—niggas just look at Instagram and think one thing, but they don’t know. Fuck all that. I’d say the same shit to anybody, my security, my staff.
“This stage is sacred. It’s the only time we get to speak and niggas listen. That’s when I’m at peace. All the critics and everyone who don’t like you go away. That’s where you got 2,000 of your people. You go out to your village and stand up on top of a house and you like, ‘WE ABOUT TO CHANGE THE WORLD!’ I love my fans more than anything. I’d give my kidney up [for them].”
On Rodeo‘s Comparisons To Future’s DS2:
“When my album dropped I deleted Twitter off my phone just so I could be at peace. I saw some shit where on ‘Oh My Dis Side’ [somebody said] I got the melody from Future’s ‘Rich $ex,’ which is so weak and lame. That’s one of my favorite songs, but my album was made before the Future album came out. Metro [Boomin] stayed at my crib for, like, nine months and made mad beats that made it onto Future’s album. I’m like, damn if only they knew.”
On His Sound:
“My music isn’t rappity-rap-rap-rap. I base my music off of lifestyle and emotion—that’s why my music has a lot of chords, even if it’s a hard-ass joint. I consider myself an artist, which is, like, the most played term, but I believe it. Don’t get it twisted, I’m no bitch, nigga got bars. But I’m not, like, super conscious. I don’t write, I just go in the booth. I’m attached to the beat. The beat speaks words. I love music.”
On His Moniker:
“My favorite uncle’s name is Travis. That nigga’s just smart and cool. The Scott comes from him, too, that was his nickname. I was, like, man, if I wanted to be a rapper I wanted to be this nigga. He has this ill-ass crib, is fresh as hell, has all this land. Nigga is smooth. Travis is smooth. I’ve always been smooth.”
On Rodeo‘s Leak And His Label:
“You was supposed to buy my album with an action figure and a USB. It would have been the illest shit ever. This was the opportunity to raise the bar and set the standard. I feel like half the people who didn’t understand Rodeo didn’t because I made Rodeo with this idea of the packaging. That whole packaging was meant to complete my story, but just because I’m young and they didn’t trust the idea this type of shit happens. You gotta be Madonna or somebody for this type of shit to happen. We love [the label], they just need to get down with us faster.”
Read the full cover story, here.