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Travis Scott's 'Astroworld' Returns Rapper To Top Of The Charts

Travis Scott

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Travis Scott's 'Astroworld' Returns Rapper To Top Of The Charts

Data from album's record-breaking first week nudges Drake down to No. 2

GRAMMYs/Aug 14, 2018 - 01:37 am

GRAMMY-nominated rapper Travis Scott is so ready for his close-up that his third solo studio album, Astroworld, released on Aug. 3, features his big golden head as an amusement park ride, photographed by David LaChapelle. Now that its Nielsen data is out — with the tip-off for the Aug. 18 Billboard 200 — the album has him back at No. 1 in a big way, securely on the 2018 record-breaker leaderboard and taking the top spot from the extended residency Drake's Scorpion occupied for five consecutive weeks.

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Astroworld's straight sales reached 270,000 units, second in 2018 only to Dave Matthews Band's Come Tomorrow. In streaming equivalents — a leaderboard dominated by Drake — the LP reached 261,000, the fifth best showing for an album ever. Including track-equivalents, this makes his 2018 debut week the second highest of the year, behind Drake. It is a personal best for the rapper. His first studio album Rodeo reached No. 3 in 2015, and the following year's Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight peaked at No. 1 with 53,000 straight sales and a total, with streams, of 88,000 units.

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There was a real AstroWorld amusement park in the rapper's hometown of Houston once, replaced by a housing development in 2005 while Scott was a teen. His effort to reimagine the fun he knew as a kid has blown up. The attention and raves the album has received match the  symbolic prestige of his golden bounce house quite nicely.

Scott's GRAMMY nominations to date were drawn to collaborations, beginning with his contribution to Kanye West's "New Slaves," up for Best Rap Song at the 56th GRAMMY Awards. In the past two years, Scott was nominated with Justin Bieber for Purpose, for Album Of The Year at the 59th GRAMMY Awards, and with SZA for his featured spot on her "Love Galore," nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 60th GRAMMY Awards.

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2024 GRAMMYs: Travis Scott Turns Music's Biggest Night Into A Heated Utopia
Travis Scott performs on stage during the 66th Annual Grammy Awards

Photos: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

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2024 GRAMMYs: Travis Scott Turns Music's Biggest Night Into A Heated Utopia

Travis Scott performed three songs from his hit album 'Utopia' at the 2024 GRAMMYs. In a speaker-ladden apocalyptic landscape, the Houston rapper performed "MY EYES," "I KNOW ?" and "FE!N" with Playboi Carti.

GRAMMYs/Feb 5, 2024 - 04:12 am

Travis Scott turned Crypto.com Arena into his personal road to Utopia, bringing the 2024 GRAMMYs, where he performed three songs from his latest No. 1 album.

Scott set the tone with a backdrop reminiscent of something out of a musical apocalypse. From sitting atop a stack of speakers in a smoky, strobing haze, the Houston-repping rapper kicked off with "MY EYES" before climbing down and transitioning into the brooding "I KNOW ?" The performance heated up — figuratively and literally, with bursts of flames — when he moved onto "FE!N," bringing out Playboi Carti while throwing chair shots WWE-style. 

"MY EYES" and "I KNOW ?" are two of Scott’s three solo tracks on Utopia, which is packed with collaborators across its 19 tracks. In addition to "FE!N" guest Playboi Carti, the album boasts appearances from some of music’s biggest names (as well as several current GRAMMY nominees), including Beyoncé, Drake, the Weeknd, Bad Bunny, and Future. Its production credits include input from Kanye West, Producer Of The Year nominee Metro Boomin, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and others. 

The heavy name recognition was well worth Utopia’s wait time, five years after Scott’s 2018 LP Astroworld. Upon its release — which arrived with a 76-minute-long visual companion, CIRCUS MAXIMUS — the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and peaked atop Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Utopia also earned Scott his first No. 1 UK Album and his eleventh overall GRAMMY nomination, grabbing a 2024 nod for Best Rap Album.

2024 GRAMMYs: See The Full Nominees And Winners List

2024 GRAMMYs Performers: Burna Boy, Luke Combs And Travis Scott Announced
(L-R) Burna Boy, Luke Combs and Travis Scott will perform at the 2024 GRAMMYs, airing live Sunday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+

Source Photos (L-R): APMWORLD; Jeremy Cowart; ©Massimiliano Lorenzin, courtesy of Billboard Italy

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2024 GRAMMYs Performers: Burna Boy, Luke Combs And Travis Scott Announced

Burna Boy, Luke Combs and Travis Scott have been added to the performer lineup for the 2024 GRAMMYs. They join previously announced performers Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo. The 2024 GRAMMYs air live Sunday, Feb. 4, on CBS and Paramount+.

GRAMMYs/Jan 22, 2024 - 02:23 am

Burna Boy, Luke Combs and Travis Scott have been added to the performer lineup for the 2024 GRAMMYs. Unveiled earlier today on CBS, these newly announced performing artists join previously announced 2024 GRAMMYs performers Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo. Additional performers will be announced in the coming days and weeks. See the full list of performers and host at the 2024 GRAMMYs to date. 

The 2024 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 66th GRAMMY Awards, will broadcast live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.^ Prior to the Telecast, the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will broadcast live from the Peacock Theater at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on live.GRAMMY.com. On GRAMMY Sunday, fans can access exclusive behind-the-scenes GRAMMY Awards content, including performances, acceptance speeches, interviews from the GRAMMY Live red-carpet special, and more via the Recording Academy's digital experience on live.GRAMMY.com

Two-time GRAMMY-nominated comedian, actor, author, podcast host, and former "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah returns to host the 2024 GRAMMYs, marking his fourth consecutive year as host of Music's Biggest Night; Noah is currently nominated at the 2024 GRAMMYs in the Best Comedy Album Category for this 2022 Netflix comedy special, I Wish You Would.

Learn more about Burna Boy, Luke Combs and Travis Scott and their current GRAMMY nominations below.

Learn More: How To Watch The 2024 GRAMMYs Live: GRAMMY Nominations Announcement, Air Date, Red Carpet, Streaming Channel & More

2024 GRAMMYs: Explore More & Meet The Nominees

GRAMMY Award winner Burna Boy is nominated for four GRAMMY Awards this year including Best Global Music Album (I Told Them...), the inaugural Best African Music Performance ("City Boys"), Best Global Music Performance ("Alone"), and Best Melodic Rap Performance ("Sittin' On Top Of The World").

Learn More: Here Are The Nominees For Best African Music Performance At The 2024 GRAMMYs

Past and current GRAMMY Award nominee Luke Combs is up for one this year for Best Country Solo Performance for his cover of Tracy Chapman's iconic, GRAMMY-winning song "Fast Car."

Read More: 6 Artists Influenced By Tracy Chapman: Luke Combs, Brandi Carlile, Tori Amos & More

Past and current GRAMMY Award nominee Travis Scott is nominated this year for Best Rap Album (Utopia).

Read More: 5 Takeaways From Travis Scott's New Album UTOPIA

The 66th GRAMMY Awards are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers. 

^Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers will have access to stream live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service, as well as on demand in the United States. Paramount+ Essential subscribers will not have the option to stream live but will have access to on-demand the day after the special airs in the U.S. only.

2024 GRAMMYs Ticket Giveaway: Enter For A Chance To Attend The 66th GRAMMY Awards In Los Angeles

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
Kendrick Lamar

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

GRAMMYs/Oct 13, 2023 - 06:01 pm

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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5 Takeaways From Travis Scott's New Album 'UTOPIA'
Travis Scott performs at E11EVEN Miami in July 2023.

Photo: Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for E11EVEN

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5 Takeaways From Travis Scott's New Album 'UTOPIA'

On the highly anticipated follow-up to 2018's blockbuster album 'ASTROWORLD,' Travis Scott's 'UTOPIA' turns triumph and tragedy into another euphoric world.

GRAMMYs/Jul 28, 2023 - 08:12 pm

It's been a turbulent five-year journey for Travis Scott bridging the worlds of ASTROWORLD to UTOPIA.

Since the 2018 GRAMMY-nominated album solidified Scott as part of rap's A-list, he's endured the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Amid working on the album (which he began teasing in 2020), his 2021 iteration of Astroworld Festival resulted in a crowd crush that killed 10. 

Three months later, he welcomed his second child with Kylie Jenner. Earlier this year, the pair reportedly split; just weeks before UTOPIA's arrival, Scott was cleared of any criminal liability for the Astroworld Festival incident, but civil lawsuits remain to be sorted.  

Expectations were already sky-high for Scott to maintain luminary status with his ASTROWORLD follow-up. But after he experienced tragedy and heartbreak alongside triumphs and joy, Scott had all eyes on him as UTOPIA arrived on July 28. Yet, the pressure didn't seem to faze the Houston-born rapper — UTOPIA creates another euphoric world for his loyal fans.

In honor of La Flame's star-studded fourth studio LP — which is loaded with 18 features across 19 tracks — here are five early takeaways surrounding UTOPIA

CIRCUS MAXIMUS Is UTOPIA's Visual Companion

Fans didn't know what to expect with Scott's CIRCUS MAXIMUS, which hit select theaters mere hours prior to UTOPIA. The 76-minute film — which takes its name from a UTOPIA track — serves as more of a series of music videos centered around a conversation between the rapper and producer Rick Rubin.

"You've come a long way — is the house half empty or completely empty? How are the kids? I heard there was a tragedy," Rubin asks Scott at one point, but he takes the conversation in a different direction.

The Harmony Korine-directed movie features about half of the songs from UTOPIA and includes appearances from Sheck Wes, Yung Lean and James Blake. Scott goes from DJing a colorful dance party for "MODERN JAM" to smashing chairs and nearly burning down an ancient Italian racing stadium while "FE!N" rings off.

CIRCUS MAXIMUS also allows Scott to share his rather unexpected interpretation of what UTOPIA means inside his world. "UTOPIA is not all pretty," he says in the film. "It's how you balance the idea of confrontation."

Yeezus Rises Again

Scott and Kanye West have had a longstanding musical partnership, as Scott played an integral role behind-the-scenes of West's rebellious 2013 album, Yeezus. A decade later, West's fingerprints are all over UTOPIA — even without a vocal guest appearance.

West earned production credits on "MODERN JAM," "THANK GOD," "TELEKINESIS" and "GOD'S COUNTRY." The latter two were originally on the track list for 2021's Donda before Ye passed them off to Scott to bring across the finish line. 

Elsewhere, "CIRCUS MAXIMUS" is essentially a "Black Skinhead" part two; it interpolates the rugged Yeezus standout, and it was co-produced by Noah Goldstein, Ye's audio engineer for most of his career. 

Trav's most blunt pledge to Kanye came on "Skitzo," which calls back to West's alleged presidential bid for 2024. "I'm loyal, b—, I got Ye over Biden," Scott candidly raps.

Drake And Travis Scott Take Aim At Their Opps Once Again

Drake and Travis Scott have proven to be a winning combination in the past with diamond-certified smashes like "SICKO MODE," and they aimed to recreate that magic with "MELTDOWN."

Right out of the gate, Drake makes a fiery statement with bars seemingly addressing Pusha T — but he's really sniping his close friend Pharrell, mirroring his shots at Kanye West in his "SICKO MODE" verse.

"I melt down the chains that I bought from yo' boss," Drake raps in reference to a Skateboard P pendant he recently purchased at an auction from Pharrell. The 6 God goes on to diss Pharrell's new position as a creative director at Louis Vuitton and claims nobody's messing with the designer brand since the 2021 death of former head Virgil Abloh.

"Give a f— about all of that heritage s—/ Since V not around, the members done hung up the Louis/ They not even wearing that s—," he continues.

Scott joined Drake in the sinister "tensions rising" theme, subliminally dissing Wonka star Timothée Chalamet, who has reportedly been dating his ex Kylie Jenner. "Chocolate AP and chocolate the Vs (Vs), got the Willy Wonka factory/Burn a athlete like it's calories, find another flame hot as me, b—," Scott spits.

While "Meltdown" may not reach the same commercial heights as "SICKO MODE," it has certainly caused a stir on social media. "Drake went crazy… I love when dude starts gettin' chippy!" Hot 97's Ebro Darden wrote on Twitter. As another fan claimed, "Rap been boring. I gotta thank Drake honestly for wanting to get back in the ring."

Scott Finally Got His Dream Collab

Perhaps one of UTOPIA's buzziest cameos comes from Beyoncé, who appears on "DELRESTO (ECHOES)." It marks a full-circle moment for Scott, too, as he has long tried to manifest a collab with his fellow Houston native, publicly declaring his hopes for a Bey team-up to Complex in 2016. (Prior to UTOPIA's release, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the newspaper cover art for "DELRESTO (ECHOES)" had been incorporated as part of Bey's Renaissance Tour decor.)

As Bey continues to ride out her RENAISSANCE groove, Scott fits in well with his hypnotic flow. And in a rather surprising twist, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon rounds out the track by pouring in his ethereal vocals behind the triumphant Hit-Boy production.

While Bey does much of the heavy lifting on "DELRESTO (ECHOES)," Scott's verse still stands out as he declares he won't give up on a new love interest. "The starry nights, they start to fade (Come on)/ At times, for miles I see your face, yeah," Scott testifies, borrowing from Kanye's "Coldest Winter" flow.

"MODERN JAM" Is The Hit Fans Will Eventually Catch On To

Scott's Ragers normally rush to collide for a sweaty moshpit when his music comes on. But with the genre-bending UTOPIA track "MODERN JAM," La Flame's moving the crowd from the mosh pit to the dance floor.

According to Kanye West fan page Donda's Place, "MODERN JAM" is a 10-year-old alternate version of the raw beat that became Yeezus' "I Am A God." Travis expertly meshes the abrasiveness of Ye's hard-hitting 808s with a groovy baseline. And with production help from Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the Teezo Touchdown-assisted track is a good bet to slow-burn its way to major chart success — even if it has a different feel than what Scott's fans are used to.

Since the beginning of Scott's career, he has been a trendsetter pushing the boundaries of what's considered mainstream hip-hop. He knows how to introduce foreign sonics in such a digestible way that it allows him to take creative risks and still thrive as a commercial titan — and UTOPIA is proof that he hasn't lost his Midas touch.

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