Governor’s Ball is an exciting day that many PMHS students look forward to each year. A few months before the actual event, a set list is released that includes which artists will be featured at that year’s Gov Ball. Last year the festival, hosted at Randall’s Island, attracted around 50,000 people – many of whom were PMHS students. One of the most anticipated performers was Travis Scott, who performed one of the songs on his unreleased album, STARGAZING.

Scott was born in Houston, Texas on April 30, 1992, where he grew up until he moved in with his father. Scott attended University of Texas at San Antonio up until his sophomore year when he decided to drop out to focus on music. He then moved to New York City where he spent most of his time at Just Blaze Studio, to become a hip hop producer. Instead, him and his old friends started a group called The Classmates, where he released two projects with his counterparts. His first big hit came in 2014 when he released Antidote, part of a bigger album called Rodeo which released in 2015 which was his first big album.

On August 3, three months after his performance at Governor’s Ball, Travis Scott released ASTROWORLD, which contained STARGAZING along with sixteen other songs. Initially he announced the name ASTROWORLD in May of 2016, after he started working on it. The name came from the closed down amusement park Six Flags AstroWorld in his hometown of Houston. He described the album as a continuation of Rodeo, hoping that people would like ASTROWORLD if they enjoyed Rodeo. His album has already attracted millions of listeners, especially on hit songs like SICKO MODE featuring popular Canadian rapper Drake.

“I really like ASTROWORLD, I always have it on in my car,” said junior Nicholas Shotkoski, an avid hip-hop fan.

The album was Travis Scott’s best to date and a competitor for album of the year, havng been well-received among high level critics, including a three and a half star rating from Rolling Stone, a monthly magazine focusing on music. Many of his songs are catchy and have caught the attention of professional athletes like LeBron James who has been spotted singing along to SICKO MODE in various videos on the internet. BUTTERFLY EFFECT, a single released by Travis Scott in May of 2017 made double platinum in the United States signifying over 2,000,000 sales. It’s clear that the wait for ASTROWORLD was totally worth it and more great songs from Travis Scott should be expected in the future.

ASTROWORLD is unique and is starting to have influence over other albums in the genre of rap. Artists such as Lil Baby and Gunna have taken after Travis Scott in his writing style and music technique. Even if you can’t rap every lyric, listening to ASTROWORLD is a must.