Astroworld

Travis Scott And Drake Are Being Sued Over The Astroworld Festival Deaths

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What was supposed to be a joyous event turned into a tragedy over the weekend as eight people died during a crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival on Friday, November 5. Now, Scott is facing multiple lawsuits over the event and Drake is a defendant in one of them.

As previously reported, Astroworld attendee Manuel Souza is suing Scott, Live Nation, and organizer ScoreMore. The lawsuit claims the incident was the result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety” and the “encouragement of violence.” It also calls the situation a “predictable and preventable tragedy.”

Souza’s attorney, Steve Kherkher of Kherkher Garcia LLP, wrote, “Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner. Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.”

Furthermore, NME reports that another suit was filed by Texas-based attorney Thomas J. Henry, on behalf of an unnamed Astroworld attendee. Listed as co-defendants are Scott, Drake, Live Nation, and NRG Stadium, and a press release from Henry’s law firm alleges the surge happened when Drake made a surprise appearance on stage.

“There is no excuse for the events that unfolded at NRG stadium on Friday night,” Henry said in a statement. “There is every indication that the performers, organizers, and venue were not only aware of the hectic crowd but also that injuries and potential deaths may have occurred. Still, they decided to put profits over their attendees and allowed the deadly show to go on.”

Beyond that, there’s yet another lawsuit, filed by civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump on behalf of Astroworld attendee Noah Gutierrez, who claims to have offered assistance to crowd members in need in the VIP section.

Crump wrote in a statement, “We are hearing horrific accounts of the terror and helplessness people experienced — the horror of a crushing crowd and the awful trauma of watching people die while trying unsuccessfully to save them. We will be pursuing justice for all our clients who were harmed in this tragic and preventable event.”

The statement also notes that Crump expects to file more lawsuits on behalf of other victims in the coming days, so it appears Scott’s plate is full when it comes to legal trouble.

Travis Scott Dreams Of Wealth And Running Away From The Chaos On ‘Escape Plan’ And ‘Mafia’

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For the third time in four years, Travis Scott will bring the rage to his hometown of Houston with his trademark Astroworld Festival. In addition to performing “The Scotts” and “Franchise,” as well as his last album, Astroworld, Travis will most likely perform a new song at the festival as he returns tonight with “Escape Plan” and “Mafia.” The former track is everything you expect from him as it’s raucous and full of chaos while the latter is a bit more relaxed and calm for a record from Travis

Travis’ upcoming Astroworld Festival, which takes place on November 5 and 6, will feature performances from 21 Savage, Baby Keem, Bad Bunny, BIA, Chief Keef, Don Toliver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Houston All-Stars, Lil Baby, Master P, Roddy Ricch, Sheck Wes, Sofaygo, SZA, Teezo Touchdown, Toro Y Moi, Tame Impala, Young Thug, and Yves Tumor. Travis will also livestream his first of two solo sets at Astroworld exclusively on Apple Music.

The new track comes after he joined Young Thug and Drake on “Bubbly” and teamed with Don Toliver for “Flocky Flocky.”

You can listen to “Escape Plan” in the video above and check out Mafia here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Tame Impala Performed Their Travis Scott Collab ‘Skeletons’ For The First Time At Their Live Comeback

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Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has had the opportunity to collaborate with a handful of rappers over the years. A prominent and relatively recent example of that is “Skeletons,” a highlight from Travis Scott’s hit 2018 album Astroworld. Earlier this week, on September 7, Tame Impala kicked off their comeback tour at the United Center in Chicago, and during the set, the band decided to perform the Scott collaboration for the first time.

In a 2018 Billboard interview, Parker spoke about how “Skeletons” came to be, saying, “[Scott’s] manager got in touch and said he was a big fan [and suggested we] meet up if I was ever in LA, so I went to a few sessions with him. We hung out and played some stuff, and he really liked what ended up being ‘Skeletons.’ That definitely got the biggest reaction out of him. I could tell he liked it. I remember going through this stuff to play to Travis, and just thought, ‘Oh, this is actually really up his alley.’ I know Travis likes his psych-rock. He likes his crusty metal guitar sound. I was struck by how much I thought it would fit Travis’ thing even though it’s not hip-hop-sounding. So much hip-hop is cycled from music that sounds like that — crusty-sounding ’70s rock. There’s so much of that, that kind of King Crimson stuff.”

In that same conversation, he talked about what it was like working with Scott, saying, “What’s cool about people like Travis is that they’re just getting a bunch of people in the room and seeing what happens. For a lot of it, I was just a team player. At some points, there were 10, 20 people in the room. You could just be there and hang out and not do anything for like an hour. And then something perks your ears up, and you can be like, ‘Oh yeah yeah, plug me in, I’ve got an idea.’ We’d go for hours, until three in the morning.”

Watch a clip of the “Skeletons” performance above.

Don Toliver’s ‘What You Need’ Video Is An Unexpected Kind Of Flex

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For those of you who’ve been following Don Toliver since his breakout feature on mentor and label-boss Travis Scott’s Astroworld, for the track “Can’t Say,” the Texas rapper is back on the scene today with a brand new video. Following up his own debut album Heaven Or Hell, released in 2020, a year that very well fits that description, Toliver’s “What You Need” video is a Nabil-directed clip that finds him riding in green limos and encountering mystical, glowing plumes of smoke out in the forest. It’s trippy in all the right ways, and the song itself is going to be the lead single off Toliver’s sophomore album, slated for release sometime this summer.

Aside from releasing his debut last year, Don also raised some eyebrows over his kerfuffle with the XXL Freshman cover, an extremely coveted and highly-visible co-sign for rising rappers, which he reportedly turned down in a sense. The magazine’s longtime editor-in-chief told Hot 97’s The Breakfast Club that the young Houston MC basically insisted he’d only pose for the cover photo, and was going to skip all the cyphers, concerts, and freestyles associated with the project. Obviously that didn’t go over well with XXL, but considering Travis Scott took the same route, eschewing the Freshman cover, it seems like Toliver will do just fine anyway. Plus his appearance on Cactus Jack’s Jackboys EP was another boost for his profile, proving Scott’s co-sign might be just as important at this point.

Watch the new video above and look for more info on Toliver’s second album coming soon.