Hi and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, internet's busiest music nerd. I'm back with some thoughts and hopefully a bit of a critical reassessment of what is seen by many to be a classic mixtape at this point. That would be Travis Scott's Days Before Rodeo, the rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer's tape that he dropped a year before what is considered to be one of his most critically acclaimed and successful albums in his catalog, Rodeo, a record that even I was blown away by when it came out, having been up until that point, not very impressed with Travis Scott's work.

Of course, since the release of Rodeo, I have been fairly critical of Travis's work, depending on the release. But admittedly, it was Travis's stuff prior to the release of Rodeo that I was especially harsh on. I mean, at the time, honestly, I thought Owl Pharaoh itself was pretty terrible, but I was pretty unforgiving to Days Before Rodeo, too, with many in my comments recently reminding me that I gave the mixtape a three out of ten, and that there is no possible way that score is justifiable, especially now that the mixtape is seeing an official release on streaming services. Now we can really appreciate the project for what it is in retrospect, especially given just how much cultural impact Travis Scott's music has had since the release of that tape.

Now, listen, this is not the first time I have visited this project in the wake of its release and my original review of it. For a while, I have maintained that while I may not necessarily enjoy Days Before Rodeo, at the very least, the tape is a cool testing ground for a lot of the ideas and sounds and esthetics and vocal effects that would go on to make great and impactful tracks on later on. Be they Utopia or Astroworld or Rodeo. Notice how I did not mention Birds in the Trap.

So, I decided to go back to the project and see if my enjoyment of Travis Scott's later releases made me warm up to it in any way. While for sure there is an element of that at play when I listened to Days Before Rodeo on streaming platforms, and now where it currently is. There's an element of that. I can most I can only squint my eyes at a lot of parts of this tape and be like, 'Okay, I could see what you're going for. I could see what that is hinting toward.' By that same token, it's even more difficult to be impressed by this project because years down the road, I've heard so many of its ideas executed and performed so much better. Why I want to rewind and listen to these more rudimentary and basic iterations of what Travis Scott was doing immediately after, I don't know.

Look, it's not that there aren't great ideas at the core of this tape. There most certainly are. It's just that they're not executed all that well. Travis Scott's shortcomings as an artist at this point in his career, I don't think he was quite as good at covering those shortcomings up or making up for them in other ways. There are multiple tracks on this thing where this is the case. "Quintana, Part 2" just sounds like an underdeveloped Kid Cudi song. This was part of the issue with Owl Pharaoh, that there were tracks on that that just sounded like basic Kid Cudi rip offs. While this track does sound a little bit elevated beyond that, the influence is still too prevalent to ignore.

I should also note there's clearly some clearance stuff going on with this project on streaming platforms because there is a feature from the original mixtape version that does not make this that I've been listening to. The intro to "Drugs You Should Try It", is this singing? It barely sounds like it. The mix on the production is mid, and while the vocal manipulation and effect layers that Travis Scott is known for, while he's certainly making an attempt, he's trying, the recipe doesn't sound fully there, and as a result, the vocals just sound really grading. While I do think the track strikes up a decent vibe, as far as songwriting goes, it's not a very snappy or memorable tune.

The track "Don't Play" features a pretty decent instrumental and solid core progression, too. But once again, we are subjected to a chorus that is a total and utter mess. It sounds like something Deathgrips would do, but if they were to pull it off, it would be far more experimental and interesting. "I don't play. I don't play with..." The pitch correction just sounds so awful. Plus, the flow of that hook, again, is very awkward. It doesn't really fit into any rhythmic pocket or the instrumental all that well.

Vocally, rhythmically, "Zombies" comes across as awkward, too. I feel like this track sets the stage for what has persistently been an issue in Travis Scott's lyrics, and his messaging across his career. He constantly puts himself in a position where he frames himself as being someone who speaks for, and speaks to a generation through his music, or he wants to. But simultaneously, he's not saying anything of any substance. He's really just communicating nothing. What bullshit the next generation, according to him, is just not accepting anymore, who the heck knows?

I guess I can give it to the track "Sloppy Toppy" for having some great chemistry vocally between Migos on the track. It has one of the most epic instrumentals on the entire record, too. It's just a shame that lyrically and substantively, the track is complete drivel. The sloppy toppy goddess bar, my Christ. Deliver me. Deliver me from from this hell.

There are some hype moments on "Basement Freestyle" where Travis legitimately sounds hungry rapping. It's like he's actually putting some effort into his delivery and his flows, which I don't think he has to do quite as much these days now that his vocals are just so soaked in effects that they just pop naturally without him having to put much oomph in his rapping. I think this track also very importantly displays how significant of an influence Travis was on the creative process of Yeezus and the overall vibe of that record, because as you should remember, Travis was very much a Kanye protégé at that point in Yeez career.

Meanwhile, in the final moments of the tape, "Grey" this just pretty much sounds like an Odd Future ass outro. Just Travis doing his best to drum up some Tyler the Creator-esque vibe. Look, I will say there are certainly some standouts on the tape that are actually listenable from front to back and their merits are well executed well, be that the intro or "Skyfall" featuring Young Thug, which is quite dark and demonic in an interesting way. But even this track, with it being as good for what it is in its current state, since then, Travis has written at least several songs that scratch a very similar itch and do so better. "Backyard" also features some pretty great beats and flows. As far as like, rapping and Southern hip hop goes, this track is maybe the most conventional of the bunch on the project, which is cool.

Overall, still, at this point, I'm not really impressed with Days Before Rodeo. I think there are some cool ideas there. Again, the project does set the stage for stuff that I would love in Travis's catalog immediately after. I mean, Rodeo, I still think, is one of the greatest trap records of all time and has only gotten better with time. But unfortunately, I don't think Days Before Rodeo has, and to the extent that it has, it's only because of how much more superior the records to follow were. The ideas are there. It's setting the stage, but execution-wise, it's really just a mess.

But hey, I'm sure a lot of you guys are listening to this tape, once again, with fresh ears. Let me know what you think of it down in the comments. Love it? Hate it? How do you think it compares to Travis Scott's other works?

Anthony Fantano, Travis Scott, Days Before Rodeo, Forever.