Ranked: The Guest Features on Travis Scott's 'Rodeo'

Travis Scott's debut album Rodeo dropped yesterday, September 4, and one of the first things you'll notice looking at the track list is that he has assembled an incredible cast of collaborators for this project. Here are most of them, in the order they appear on the album:

Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin, Quavo, Mike Dean, Mano, Future, 2 Chainz, Zaytoven, Juicy J, Kacy Hill, DJ Dahi, Wondagurl, The Weeknd, Illangelo, Swae Lee, Chief Keef, Southside, TM88, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Young Thug, Toro y Moi, Pharrell, FKi, ScHoolboy Q.

It's a lot, but in the context of a Travis Scott album, somehow it all makes sense. Here are some of our favorite guest moments on Rodeo, ranked.

Juicy J's ascent from underground legend to mainstream success has been a strange one, but at least he's stayed loyal to his gritty roots. J's verse on "Wasted" isn't anything out of the ordinary for him, but it's no less satisfyingly grimy for it. We may have lost what could have been one of the most interesting features on the entire record with the exclusion of Yung Lean's verse, but "Wasted" is still a solid track. It would have been great to hear Lean share a track with Three 6 Mafia's figurehead, but J is still a welcome inclusion on his own nonetheless.

Juicy J definitely fits into the aesthetic of the album a little better than Lean would have, but you can't exactly blame us for hoping for a sequel to "Ghosttown."

At this point you pretty much know what to expect from a 2 Chainz feature. Nonsensical brags, ridiculous punchlines, and the occasional non sequitur; 2 Chainz is one of the most reliable features in hip-hop. Bringing energy to anything he touches, his feature on "3500" is solid, if not particularly memorable. While Future is the true star of "3500," 2 Chainz certainly holds his own at the very least, if only because he says "Emoji, sad faces." 2 Chainz confirmed for Sad Boy 2k15?!

Saying that this has been an amazing year for Rae Sremmurd seems like an understatement. They've been practically everywhere and certainly taking over the airwaves, so it comes as no surprise that Swae Lee would find his way onto Rodeo. Swae Lee opens up the album's seventh track "Night Call" with his usual melodic, nearly singing flow—setting the tone for both Travis Scott and Chief Keef.

There's a charisma in Swae Lee that can't quite be pinpointed but makes every song he's on a bit more enjoyable. His charm seems to come out the most in songs that contain twice as much energy as this. Because "Night Call" is a low-key song that is fitting to its title, this track falls a bit short in comparison to the rest of the tracklist.

Justin Bieber might have been the name that jumped out to most people when scanning Travis' guest list, but let's not discount the glorious surprise of Toro y Moi. Sure, Chaz Bundick has been dipping more than his toes into rap (most recently with some Rome Fortune collabs), but there was still a "holy shit, Toro!" moment when that falsetto kicks in on "Flying High."

It's not what Toro does with Travis, it's how he does it—"Flying High" is as if Scott came to Toro and asked him for a little bit of his slacker-cool mojo for Rodeo, rather than having Toro try to fit into a Travis Scott vibe. That's one of the great things about the whole album. Travis Scott recognizes real and works his own sound around it, rather than the other way around. It doesn't hurt that Pharrell helped out with production.

There's something brilliantly absurd about Chief Keef's verse on "Nightcrawler." As hit croons with heavy autotune, Keef says shit like, "Your bitch walked up in the spot and she ordered me for lunch." It's a welcome moment of ridiculousness on what is otherwise a pitch black gothic rap odyssey. Keef's verse stands out on what is otherwise a neo-noir medieval proggy journey through Scott's aesthetic.

Travis Scott brought together an incredible collection of guest artists for his official debut album, including two of 2015's hottest—The Weeknd and Future. Across Rodeo, Scott puts artists who he is directly influenced by alongside him, and it's as clear as ever how indebted he is to Future on "3500."

The hook's effect-heavy vocals and repetition over a pummeling trap beat could be from one of Future's earlier hits ("Tony Montana," "Same Damn Time"), but then Future comes through with a croaky, manic verse and shows that no one can touch him right now when it comes to melodic, world-weary rap.

Most of the time a feature placement is recorded entirely separately from the lead artist, but Quavo's appearance of "Oh My / Dis Side" really had to have been recorded in the same room with Scott. The two effortlessly play off each other in the first verse, before the song changes considerably in the second act. As Scott delivers his verse, he gets the king of ad-libs to act as his hype man, but Quavo really shines when it comes for his turn to deliver his own verse.

Showing a completely different side of him that he rarely touches upon when he's performing as part of Migos, his verse showcases just how underrated a rapper he really is. Plus, here's hoping this isn't just a one-off, because these two work far too well together for that to be the case.

Justin Bieber's appearance on Rodeo isn't only one of the most surprising moments, it's also one of the best. Slipping effortlessly into the middle of "Maria I'm Drunk" without disrupting the flow of the song, it's almost as if this feature is to prove to doubters how talented he can really be when he tries. Finally making the music to go along with his rockstar attitude of the past few years, his inclusion on a track with both Scott and Young Thug is perhaps the strangest, albeit most effective part of Bieber's impressive road to redemption so far.

"Maria I'm Drunk" is proof of what Justin Bieber is really capable of when placed outside of a pop context. Here's hoping this isn't the last time the Biebz does something this adventurous.

Everyone's talking about how The Weeknd went pop on his new album, but he also got personal, with specific details of his life before fame ("Tell Your Friends") and even a little compassion towards the love interests in his songs. Those personal details that humanize the character The Weeknd embodies through his music make him more engaging, and he brings that to his guest appearance on "Pray 4 Love" too, alongside the arrogance of a man who is now a star.

The hook is bold and memorable, and The Weeknd's final verse seals the deal, a mixture of crass humor ("I'm right here, you know where I stay / And if you don't, then ask your girl, she probably know the way") and plainspoken self-criticism ("And my daughter gon' never meet a n*gga like me"). As a counter to Travis Scott's energy and rough vocals, The Weeknd's smoothness is perfect—2015 is undeniably his year.

One of Drake's best lines is from "5AM In Toronto" is when he boasts, "That's why every song sound like Drake featuring Drake." But based on just this past year, Young Thug is the one to copy. The rapper has been everywhere, lending his other-worldly flow to almost every big song to grace the hip-hop airwaves. Thug has a star power that's impossible to ignore, so when you put him on tracks with other hip-hop and R&B artists, he's going to stand out. But what happens when he starts to cross genre lines?

Enter "Maria I'm Drunk." Here Travi$ Scott boldly pairs Young Thug with someone totally out of his realm: Justin Bieber. What's more is that instead of Thug rapping a fire guest verse while Bieber delivers a pop hook, we've got Thug handling the chorus while Bieber and Scott trade verses. It doesn't sound like it should work, but it does, and "Maria I'm Drunk" is the best song on Rodeo. Thug's not only holding his own on a track with one of the biggest pop stars of the world, he's dominating.