Travis Scott

Travis Scott has helped define the sound and feel of 2010s rap, imbuing tough, surrealistic trap with a distinctly pop appeal. Raised in the suburbs of Houston, Scott (born Jacques Berman Webster II in 1991) first made noise as an in-house producer for Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music, working on the 2012 label showcase Cruel Summer and 2013’s Yeezus, which arrived mere weeks after he dropped his debut mixtape, Owl Pharaoh. He went on to bring his gothic-edged sound to Drake, Migos, Madonna and Rihanna (“Bitch Better Have My Money”), while his own solo albums—2015’s Rodeo and 2016’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight—playfully drew the commercial center of rap toward the avant-garde. Take 2018’s ASTROWORLD, a swirling, almost psychedelic set that not only managed to pull together Quavo, John Mayer, Tame Impala and Sheck Wes on the same album, but also had them gel—a testament to Scott’s vision as an artist and superlative curator. He would do it again on 2023's Utopia, which brought Beyoncé, Drake, The Weeknd, James Blake, Future, and Dave Chappelle into the fold.