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Image via Complex
Travis Scott has had a tremendous year. Still riding off the success of his debut album Rodeo, Travis is currently on tour with The Weeknd and is set to join Rihanna on tour next year—all while still managing to take over the radio with his current hit “Antidote.” It can be extremely difficult to track someone with such a busy schedule down, however Complex managed to complete that trying task.
For their Dec 2015/Jan 2016 issue, Complex chose Travis Scott as their “Man of Next Year.” The rather mysterious rapper, who continues to find himself in the middle of various tabloid stories, was able to finally speak for himself. “I be tripping when I see people commenting like, ‘This nigga an asshole,'” said Travis. “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.”
It seems his persona is just a bit of misunderstanding. “This stage is sacred. It’s the only time we get to speak and niggas listen. That’s when I’m at peace.” Travis explains why speaking on stage is so important to him: “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].”
Similar to his mentor Kanye West, Travis takes his time on stage as an opportunity to let his voice be heard, but these speeches are often twisted and referred to as “rants.” Despite the similarities and their friendship, he admits that constantly talking about Kanye in every single interview is “actually very fucking annoying.”
Although Rodeo was quite the success Travis believes he “missed history” because his original rollout plan for the album was never executed. “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,” Travis explained. However, it’s not the missed opportunity of sales that bothers Travis, but the shortened vision. “I’m making songs not for the money but to see motherfuckers’ reaction.”
Read the full cover story here.
