Travis Scott is easily one of the most profitable and influential figures in popular culture, but just five years ago, he was still coming into his own. Following the release of back-to-back heat on 2014’s Days Before Rodeo and his debut studio album Rodeo in 2015, all eyes were on Travis Scott to see if he was going to be able to make that leap and join Hip-Hop’s upper echelon of artists. And although he officially reached superstardom with Astroworld in 2018, it was his sophomore album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight which paved the way for the Houston rapper’s meteoric rise.
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Packed with high-quality guest features from Hip-Hop mainstays like Kid Cudi and Kendrick Lamar as well as sensational new artists like 21 Savage and Nav, BITTSM was an indulgent offering from Travis that truly pushed him to his limits as a songwriter and a Kanye West-esque album curator. Aside from the album’s octuple platinum track “Goosebumps,” one of the most incredible moments on Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight was its André 3000-assisted intro, titled “the ends.” Both artists paint horrifying pictures of their hometowns, yet the end result is still eerily beautiful.
Celebrate the five-year anniversary of Travis Scott’s game-changing sophomore studio album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight by revisiting the record’s dark intro below. What’s your favorite track from the platinum-certified project?
Quotable Lyrics
I came up in the town, they were murderin’ kids, hmm
And dumped ’em in the creek up from where I live (Ayy)
Bodies, bodies, bodies sprinkled around (Uh, uh)
We runnin’ through the sprinkler lookin’ around
Killer would show up with boxes of pizza, uh
And said he had a label recruitin’ people (Uh)
Put that on my grandma and everything, yeah
My homie said he told ’em his name was Wayne
It could’ve been me or could’ve been you too