A Dive into Travis Scott's Arguable best work- Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight

Travis Scott built himself up to superstar status in the mid-early 2010s with mixtape Days Before Rodeo and full-length studio album Rodeo. After these somewhat darker mixes of melodic trap/hip hop, Scott, who's real name is Jacques Webster, decided to keep his career on the trap path, but experiment with a different, not quite as dark sound. He released his second full-length studio album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, on September 2nd, 2016. Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight is a bit different from his previous work, as there are still dark themes, but the darkness is often more emphasized lyrically as opposed to in the musical atmosphere. On this album, there are songs for quite literally every occasion.

The album begins with The Ends, where Scott is joined by Outkast's Andre 3000 after singing a bit and delivering a verse that showcased his lyrical superiority. This song is very solid, though I wouldn't say it's among the best few songs on Birds, but it was a very smart, bold move by Scott to partner up with not only one of the most respected figures in the hip hop community, but someone who doesn't necasarily make this genre of music to start off the album. This is followed by Way Back, which has some weak adlibs from Kanye West. The main highlight of the album comes at the beginning, with the 3-song combo of Coordinate, Through the Late Night, and Beibs in the Trap. There's an absolutely killer intro by Blac Younsta on Coordinate, and then Scott mostly talks about swag and lifestyle. The beat is a dark smite, and we witness some top-tier adlibs. Through the Late Night is nothing short of beautiful. Scott is joined by Kid Cudi on this melodic five-minute piece, and they collaborate for a timeless hook, as well as a demo of Kid Cudi's classic song Day N Nite by Scott. Beibs in the Trap is probably the best club song of the 2010s, in my opinion. This song made NAV famous. These three are followed by Scott's most musically emotional song, and that is SDP Interlude, where Scott is joined by singer Cassie, as she dreamingly suggests to, "smoke some, drink some, pop one" with a beat that makes you feel like you're going back in time to the most important points in your life. The only reason I mentioned this one seperately from Coordinate, Through the Late Night and Beibs in the Trap is because the extended version of this song, which was never released, is perhaps the best unreleased song ever.

This is followed by Sweet Sweet, a fun, jumpy track that is arguably Travis Scott's most catchy work. Not every song on this album is dark lyrically, as many aren't, but there is a common theme in many verses of Scott expressing sorrow over certain aspects of his lie, such as Lose and First Take, which features Bryson Tiller. The two biggest songs on this album are probably Goosebumps, which is the 35th most streamed song of all time, and Pick up the Phone, which was originally on Young Thug's Jefferey and has a pretty random line from Quavo that somehow coined this albums title, as he sings, "Birds in the trap sing Brian Mcknight, percocets and codeine, please don't take my life". Pick up the Phone is a real fun song that feels like a party as you listen to it. I don't consider Outside, which features 21 Savage, to be a particular strong point of the album, but no album is perfect. The end of the album has some solid points, as Scott experiments with a completely different sound on Guidance, which includes Ontario's K. Forest. The project ends with a decent feature from The Weeknd on Wonderful, which was a priorly released single. My favorite line on the album is probably, "Go berserk, do some sh*t you think of", which Scott sings on Sweet Sweet. That's just not a type of line that I'd really heard before. Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight contains a few of Travis Scott's best songs, but what really seperates it is the statement it made career-wise. Many expected him to follow up Rodeo with something similar sounding, but he managed to perfect his craft with a bit of a disparate sound that is still just as complete.

Travis Scott is a mogul for music fans worldwide, even with a relatively short catalog. An artist's sophomore project is their opportunity to demonstrate the direction their career will take—Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight is a bold assertion of the Ether Child's role in the rap game and deserves to be celebrated.