None of this was promised for Travis Scott — from couch surfing in Los Angeles with rap dreams, to becoming the king of the hip-hop generation, with deals from Audemars Piguet to McDonald's.
While she can look back on 2014 fondly, there were certainly pockets of creative frustration at the time, when label execs didn't trust La Flame's futuristic vision – even after co-signings from Ye and Jay-Z.
Ahead of the arrival of his debut album, Scott wowed with his second – and possibly final – mixtape Days before the Rodeo. With the project celebrating its 10th anniversary earlier this week and making its debut on streaming services, Trav took fans back to 2014 for one night only on Thursday (August 22) inside the tight confines of Atlanta's The Masquerade .
In partnership with Cactus Jack and Spotify, the Days before the Rodeo The concert served as a victory lap and blast from the past for La Flame, while some Gen-Z Ragers were introduced to the era. At the time, the music world didn't understand the seismic shift that was about to take place between the explosion of the mainstream on the horizon and Atlanta stepping into the spotlight as America's rap capital.
Fittingly, with Scott partially signed to T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records at the time (the deal has since expired, afterAstrocosm)ATL heavily influenced the mixtape — with guest appearances from Migos, Young Thug, Peewee Longway, Rich Homie Quan and Tip (who doesn't appear on the streaming service's version).
The Houston native took The Masquerade stage around 11:30 p.m. ET after a short set from Chase B, where he was serenaded by the 1,000 lucky fans in attendance, who formed several sweaty mosh pits throughout the raucous show while rocking the 10th anniversary. DBR and Free Thugger Merchandise in the familiar environment.
From the reckless “Mamacita” to the clear “Drugs You Should Try It” and a Quavo appearance, Scott went through almost the entire mixtape, before introducing tracks from the vault that didn't make the original cut for the first time live.
If only the palpable energy could be bottled forever — Trav didn't want the show to stop there, as he continued to play hits from his relentless discography to keep the rage going. I salute La Flame for remembering all his lyrics with ease. Here are our eight favorite moments from the show.
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Travis gives his fans a win
Some fans had the chance to take the stage with their hero and then dive into the ocean of people, but one fan was lucky enough to receive Scott's unreleased Nike Sharkidon off his feet. La Flame proceeded to perform the rest of the night in a pair of Nike socks.
He also saved some overzealous fans from being thrown from security in the first row when he instructed them to leave the kids alone so they could continue to rage and enjoy the rest of the show.
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Deluxe Tracks From the Vault gets a live debut
Travis headed to the vault to add five previously unreleased tracks Days before the Rodeo deluxe edition, which can be purchased digitally on his website for $4.99. “Mo City Flexologist” was the first to perform on his live debut, as some might remember scott teasing the Honorable CNOTE-produced track in the mid-2010s. Others that made the cut include Thugger's “Yeah, Yeah,” the Hit-Boy-produced “Whole Lots Changes,” “Serenade” and “Too Many Chances”, which closed the night.
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Teases Full 'Days Before Rodeo' tour
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“Free Thugger”
Young Thug may still be behind bars, but his spirit was alive and well inside The Masquerade. “Nah, that's the hardest verse ever,” Scott said while belting out Thugger's syrupy “Skyfall” verse in his place. Scott teamed up with Cactus Flea Market for a limited run of Free Thugger hoodies, which sold out quickly Thursday night at the venue.
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Fan Favorites “Mamacita” and “Drugs You Should Try It” Prove Timeless
Anthems like 'Mamacita', 'Don't Play' and the intoxicating fan favorite 'Drugs You Should Try It' have aged like fine wine a decade later. They received the loudest pop from the lively crowd of all Days before the Rodeo cuts. There is DNA in the aforementioned tracks that can draw a line through La Flame's world-building art to this day. Hopefully Trav drops some more DBR reduces back to rotating as normals in his set list going forward.
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Travis plays the hits for the second act of the show
Travis didn't want this night to end, and neither did the rowdy fans. So and after DBR The setlist was about to wrap up, La Flame brought out a second act and instructed Chase B behind the boards to keep up the energetic pace. Scott then enjoyed a string of hits including 'FE!N', 'Butterfly Effect', 'Upper Echelon', 'No Bystanders' and more from his dazzling psychedelic-infused discography.
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Tribute Virgil Abloh
La Flame made sure to pay tribute to the late Virgil Abloh, who died of cardiac angiosarcoma in November 2021, sharing a few words during the show about the pioneering designer. He also brought back the smoking cowboy neon sign from the Rodeo tour set design.
“I'm not going to lie, this is really special for me right now. We took my boy Virgil to the building. Make some noise for my boy Virgil,” he said. “He's with us forever, you dig?”
Scott then reflected on his creative process during the placement DBR together a decade ago. “I remember working on this album out here, driving like a sprinter van,” he continued. “Me and Bizzy, we came up with A. I was working on this album and I told myself I'm going to make this album fast and I want to get it out fast. And I wasn't able to officially publicize it, but I was like, “Yeah, I just have to get it out into the world.” Shout, then, to all the day that's in that mama-ker now, dig!”
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Quavo Comes Out For “Sloppy Toppy”
With Quavo and Travis running together for the past few weeks, it's only fitting that Huncho shows up in his hometown to perform his slippery verse on “Sloppy Toppy.” THE Hundred Jack The combo still has that seamless chemistry on stage, and the only thing missing were appearances from Offset for a Migos reunion and the reclusive Peewee Longway.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-moments-travis-scott-days-before-rodeo-concert-recap-best-moments/