He was imbuing songs with glimpses of bleached assholes and Vogue party orgies and indignant croissant commands. For all the justified criticisms of Ye in 2023, at his best, he was always a compelling rhymer, whether he was bragging, calling himself an insecure, materialistic hypocrite, or chronicling a dysfunctional relationship. But rapper-producers and music fans are wrong if they think channeling Kanye’s genius is simply about a wall of sound and beat switches. The album’s meticulous sonic texturing is the obvious parallel. “Lost Forever” sounds suspiciously like a reference track for Kanye. Kanye’s artistic remnants are apparent on Utopia. Scott spent his formative music years around Kanye and was involved in the conception of Yeezus - one could actually wonder how much comparing Utopia to Yeezus is just comparing Scott to his old work. Utopia has drawn a boatload of Yeezus comparisons on social media (which meandered into love for underground cult hero Blackie). Travis Scott's Circus Maximus Concert Had Romans Fearing Earthquakes But unfortunately, Scott merely leaves you wanting for the inevitable freestyles we’ll soon be hearing over the beat, mailing it in and letting us know he’s “got Ye over Biden.” On “Sirens,” he rhymes “detail” with “de-vail,” “he-ail, “pee-pail” and “festie-vee-ail,” which he follows up with the (more sophisticated?) “festie-vee-awl.” It might be million-dollar production, but it’s not million-dollar rap. Scott shows initiative with several third verses and beat switches, including one of the best loops of the year on the last part of “Skitzo,” which sounds like it’s from a netherworld where Biggie and Tupac squashed their beef with a song. “I Know?” is the obligatory “about a girl in my harem” song, but there are five artists on the album (Drake, Future, 21 Savage, Young Thug, even the Weeknd) who could’ve done more than Scott with his solo moment. One immediately wants to hear Rob49 again after Scott follows up his short verse on “Topia Twins.” When Future laments on “Telekinesis” that he’s “takin’ more drugs all alone in a mansion/Walkin’ around tweakin’ with the yop in my hands,” you feel like someone’s finally depicting what rich-nigga nihilism is supposed to sound like. But the expectation of subpar lyricism doesn’t absolve him from criticism if he didn’t want to be called out for bland bars, he could simply produce compilation albums like Metro Boomin or DJ Khaled. There’s just not enough substance, though. On “Hyaena” and “Looove,” he fervently chains together end rhymes with multiple syllables and raps in interesting cadences. “God’s Country” and “Telekinesis” are solid verses. If Scott is subscribing to the “wash me” mindset here, then he deserves a Grammy for execution, because nearly all of his features outdo him. He’s previously said that he crafts albums specifically so features can kill him, likening himself to a great point guard. Westside Gunn is an artist who, like Scott, rates high up on the rap-curator rankings. “Lost Forever” is a whirling mesh of synth blips and tom drums that switches into a cavernous abyss ripe for Westside Gunn to go off on top of. “Fein” is the kind of beat that’s good enough for Playboi Carti to repeat himself 182 times over. The haunting vocal harmonizing on “God’s Country” evokes a horror movie about possessed children who lurk on the outskirts of sundown towns. “Modern Jam” feels like an ode to Eighties hip-hop that’s subtle enough to not feel gimmicky. The sonics alone make Utopia worth a listen. That said, an artist not matching their opus isn’t the automatic mark of a miss. “K-Pop,” featuring the latter two artists, feels like a reach for streams from Bad Bunny’s rabid fanbase. None of the hip-hop-leaning tracks are as immediately immersive as “Sicko Mode” or “Stargazing.” Despite the presence of Beyoncé, Bon Iver, Bad Bunny, and the Weeknd, there isn’t an obvious pop entry in the song-of-the-summer conversation. But let’s get it out: Utopia doesn’t reach that mark. To Scott’s credit, if any modern album were to vault an artist to “brand whisperer” territory, Astroworld, a well-crafted dose of Houston rap and interstellar trap, managed to do that while still being an artistic breakthrough. Even after his planned performance at the Giza Pyramid was canceled (the mere possibility of a show there was striking since it was unclear whether he’d be insured to perform again anywhere after the Astroworld concert tragedy), Utopia is still going to go Number One next week off fandom alone, scoring a victory for rap in the Billboard wars. He carried that eye for consumerism into his Utopia rollout to middling effect. After his 2018 album Astroworld, Travis Scott reached a commercial steeple that allowed him to sell candles and McDonalds meals and Forgiatto rims and anything else he wanted to pick up and wail, “It’s lit!” with.
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