World, meet Travi$. Do not dismiss him because he used a dollar sign instead of an “S” in his name. Give him a chance. It’ll take four minutes (though we’re suspecting if you let the video play for more than 0:30 and it doesn’t push you into a seizure, you’ll be sucked in for the totality of it).
Go ahead. Go on. Watch the video. We won’t start without you. Go.
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Done? Okay, great.
That was something, right? We’ve probably watched that thing 10 times since it fell into our inbox. It never gets old.
Travi$, from Houston but seemingly existing elsewhere in dark space, is clearly talented (and likely a little bananas), so we’re attaching ourselves to his spaceship. Interview ahead. There is talk of pig heads, abstractionism and Kanye West.
RO: Tell everyone everything they need to know about Travis Scott in exactly six words.
T: If I could explain myself in six words, I wouldn’t be who I am. But, I am energetic, artistic, compelling, handsome.
RO: We spent a fair amount of time listening to your music after you and I got together initially. It is splendid. How have you remained invisible (to us, anyway) for this long.
T: I really don’t know. I do as much as I can to spread my art, but some people pay more close attention to the wack shit and ignore the true art.
RO: Couple of questions about the “Lights” video, which, by the way, was very enjoyable.
T: Thanks very much.
RO: First, um, what the fuck is going on in it? Because, yo, there’s a lot of weirdness in there.
T: It’s a lot going on in the video, I know. But I really wanted to get my point across. Growing up on Jean-Michael, Kaikai Kiki, Keith Haring, these guys really taught me the true essence of expression and I feel like music is paint in its own form.
RO: There’s a part in there where there are, like, some bloody fingers and a cut-in-half pig’s head. Why?
T: The abstractionism of it all is amazing. I feel most people feel that way but don’t ever wanna say it out loud so I do it for them. “Love Sick” isn’t only about love with the opposite sex, but it’s about anything you fall for.
Rocks Off: How many times did you listen to Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy whille you were making that “Lights” video?
T: I actually didn’t at all. Umm, people tend to compare me to Kanye, but I am me and he is himself. I work with a lot of the same people he does as far as mixing and production and I feel we sort of have a similar taste, but hey, what’s wrong with that?
RO: You used to be a part of a group (Travis and Jason, we believe). But now you’re on your own? Why? And how much longer until you release more music?
T: The music I did while in Travis and Jason was amazing, but I feel that the content really had no longevity. I felt I was deeper than that and I wanted to explore that. I felt my friend is more one sided in his vision, so I had to break off and explore. Even though I moved on, he is still my bro for life.
RO: Anything else you want to gets mentioned?
T: Ahh, yes. Hi, mom and dad. Owl Pharoah is gonna be something great -enough said. And expect to hear some of my with your favorite artists as well.
Follow Travis on Twitter at @TRVISXX.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2012.