Summer of 2018 was a great summer for music as we got  new projects from Drake, Kanye West, and The Carters: Beyonce and Jay Z. However, with all that being said, there was one particular artist that caught my attention the most with their album release. That artist was Jacques Webster II, otherwise known as Travis Scott.

  The 26 year old rapper from Houston, Texas, released his highly anticipated third studio album titled “ASTROWORLD” on Aug. 3. The album title is named after the Six Flags Theme Park in Houston, TX. This was the theme park that Scott loved attending when he was a child. Scott unveiled the name of this album prior to the release of his second studio album, “Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight” which was released back in 2016.

  With “ASTROWORLD” having been hyped for over two years, many fans were worried that the project wasn’t going to live up to the anticipation. They were concerned that Scott waited too long to release it, and that it wouldn’t be as promising as they had anticipated it to be. However, when the album dropped, it did not disappoint.

  This album is without question one of the best projects Scott has ever released. He gives every song on the project its own unique and creative twist. An example would be the song “SICKO MODE”, which gave us three beat switches and featured fellow artist and friend, Drake. Also the opening track “STARGAZING”, starts off with a catchy and hard hitting instrumental that has a very atmospheric vibe to it. This eventually transitions to another trap instrumental that Scott starts rapping over at a quicker pace which I found to be entertaining.  

  Scott also features a long list of well-known and accomplished artists on this project. Artists like Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, James Blake, and Kid Cudi add their own flavor and make the tracks more distinct. The performances from these features are very impressive. For instance, James Blake’s vocals at the end of “STOP TRYING TO BE GOD” sounds beautiful  as it layers over Stevie Wonder’s harmonica performance perfectly.

  To top it all off, Scott’s sales numbers were through the roof. “ASTROWORLD” ended up moving about 537,000 album units in his first week. This placed him at number one on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.To put that in perspective, his last album, “Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight” moved only approximately 88,000 album units. Clearly, this third album release was more successful by the numbers. Scott ended up having the second biggest sales debut this year.  He placed second behind Drake’s “Scorpion” album which edged him out with about 732,000 album units.

  Overall, Scott really stepped up his game with this new project. He showed creativity and versatility. I give the album a solid 8.5 out of 10. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and can’t wait to see what Scott does in the future.

  Scott will be bringing his “ASTROWORLD” Tour to the Pepsi Center in Denver on December 12th.

Evan Naemura, Online Editor