Consider the Cactus - A Retrospective on 'Rodeo' 5 Years Later
By Carter Fife
In the early fall of my senior year of high-school, I loaded up my car full of camping gear and close friends, and set off one Friday afternoon to go on a last-minute camping trip. It was a small group, and I had recently broken up with my then-girlfriend (a break-up that had left me plagued with confusion, guilt, and emotional insecurity) so they knew the weekend was going to be out of the ordinary. Hours later on a chilly California night, we arrived at our campground, made a fire in the dust and settled in to what was about to be one of the most formative experiences of my life. One of my friends asked to be put on aux so he could play Travis Scott’s Rodeo, an album that had been leaked earlier that week much to his dismay. I didn’t object, as I didn’t know much about the relatively unknown rapper besides his legendary mixtape Days Before Rodeo, and the fact that Upper Echelon was one of my favorite tracks on GTA Radio. As T.I.’s narrative on Pornography began to fill the arid mountain campgrounds, I could tell that I was in for something special. A Complex article accompanying the record’s release would describe Travis as the “head of a snake governed by a primordial instinct leading a winding body behind”, and it wasn’t until many years later that I understood what this quote meant despite it sticking with me for so long.
I mention this trip and the break-up that inspired it because I think that in a weird way, this formative outing happening at the same time as Rodeo dropping is a rare moment of stars aligning. I was in an emotional space that, depending on how I pushed through, would pave the way to my future relationships and the way that I would later conceive what a relationship actually was. I was also in the final year of high-school, and felt haunted by the sobering reality of all my friendships and relationships being merely provisional and a product of fortunate space and time. Hip-Hop music was on the brink of great upheaval, as bling-rap has overstayed its welcome and it felt like recent hip-hop that was on the charts wasn’t doing enough to sonically push the landscape of music further. Future’s DS2 and Young Thug’s Barter 6 were newly-released harbingers of what was to come, a new take on Atlanta-trap that artists like Gucci Mane and T.I. helped usher-in, though it wasn’t going to be for a while that these records would get the respect they deserved. The person to do it would debatably be Travis Scott - and by releasing what many would consider to be his finest work, and a time-tested opus of the genre that it helped define and innovate, Rodeo would pave the way for hip-hop music for years to come.
Five years later and this album still holds the same charm and wonder that it did on that cold night at the Juniper Campground. A charisma yet-unseen from a young and hopeful Kanye West protegée, and star-potential that was waiting to be tapped into. Though a rising star at the time of Rodeo’s release, Travis Scott would be propelled into super-stardom with his conceptually striking and musically innovative debut record. Since its release, I have gone through different phases falling in love with each different track upwards of 100 times, and it is clear that I am not the only one. To this day Rodeo still remains in the conversation surrounding Travis Scott and what is influencing hip-hop music today. Tracks like “Maria I’m Drunk”, “Oh My Dis Side” and “90210” are seen as having a near mythical-status, and would later help establish artists like Young Thug, Quavo, and Kacy Hill as industry heavyweights. Radio hits like “Antidote” and “3500” with Future and 2 Chainz still command sweaty fans that know every word to the center of every party that they’re played at. Lesser-known hits like “Impossible” and “Piss On Your Grave” with Kanye West are still put in heavy rotation by hip-hop fans today, and it is partially because of tracks like these that a culture of gatekeeping Travis Scott has developed in the wake of his commercial success following 2018’s ASTROWORLD. Everybody wants to raise their hand and say that they were there in 2015 when Diamond Supply Co and Travis Scott made a collaboration parka, and nobody wants to feel like they were left out of an era where you could pull up to a house party blasting “Flying High” featuring the Bay Area’s own Toro Y Moi.
Like how my senior year was my indoctrination into a new era of my life, Rodeo was a sort of indoctrination for hip-hop music and Travis Scott himself. When he would later produce tracks on Rihanna’s 2016 record ANTI, less than a year prior he was a relatively unknown blip that managed to be featured on Drake’s 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late. The trap artists that would go on to borrow from the Houston rapper/producer include names like Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, 21 Savage, and countless others. Everybody wanted to make tracks with an ambiance like “Pornography”, with beat-switches like “Oh My Dis Side” or “90210”, with drums like “Nightcrawler” or with an abrasive rawness like “Piss On Your Grave” or “Ok Alright”. I personally used to mix his songs into live sets, then into radio shows in Portland, and eventually would do the same thing when I transferred to LA. Today Travis Scott has multiple collaborations with Nike, sold out arenas on multiple different tour stretches, gotten a Kardashian pregnant, and even acquired the holy grail of brand partnerships; his own McDonalds burger. Five years later many things have changed because of Rodeo, so it is important that we look backwards so we can be more informed when we ask: What’s next?
I remember watching an interview with Travis Scott before Rodeo was released, and it it he described hearing Kanye West’s 2013 record Yeezus, and said noted how it was the first time he had ever heard “god-level music” (makes sense). While I’m sure Travis Scott has no intentions of retiring anytime soon, I can’t help but be curious as to who/where the next artist is that will change the landscape of modern hip-hop music. Somewhere out there someone listened to Rodeo and thought the same thing, and now it is just a matter of time until they surface, if they haven’t already. People write about albums coincidentally finding them at the right time, or discovering artists in moments where they need them most, and an album like Rodeo is sure to be just that for countless fans, just like it was for me. Though the five years since Rodeo has passed more quickly than I’m sure any of us have anticipated, there is no denying the insurmountable personal and cultural value that this album holds. Personally - I would place it as one of my favorite records of all time, and I’m really just excited for whatever comes next from the Houston extroardinaire. The Rodeo era may have came and gone, but it was sure to influence the genre of hip-hop as we know it in its wake. Who knows - maybe its full impact hasn’t been seen just yet. This album, like that camping trip changed my life for the better, and I hope that this record continues to move and inspire others like it did for me. La Flame says, “Let your ambition carry you”, so here’s to five more.
Listen to Rodeo here:
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