Before Travis Scott topped the US Rap charts
with Rodeo, and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, three years later. Travis Scott grew up in the suburbs of Houston,
in a family with a long line of musicians. His dad was a drummer and his grandfather
was a jazz composer. Young Travis showed musical promise from a
young age, playing drums from the age of three, and producing his first song at 13 years old. His parents were happy to encourage his musical
endeavours while they remained a hobby, but something changed as Travis began to cut class
to make beats, and chose to follow music as a career. He would find himself in fist fights with
his dad, and lying to his mother, as he spent money she sent him for college on plane tickets
to New York and LA. Soon, his parents caught on to his scam, and
cut him off financially, even as he returned to Houston for a failed attempt at making
amends. Then, homeless, penniless, and alone, Travis
returned to Los Angeles on borrowed money. And that's when he got a call from TI. What's going on, fellas? My name's Michael McCrudden, coming at you
like a bitch with the story of Travis Scott prior to fame, here for you on Before They
Were Famous. Now this is an updated video. I covered Travis Scott way back in 2015, and
needless to say that video needed a good dusting off. More recently, I've covered Vince Staples,
Kap G, and Trippie Redd. Travis Scott was born Jacque Webster junior
on April 30, 1992. For the most part, he grew up in the middle
class suburbs of Houston Texas, but from ages one to six, lived with his grandmother in
South Park, a neighbourhood that was a little different. “Growing up, my grandmother stayed in the
hood,” Travis told Complex, “So, I seen random crazy shit. Mad bums and crazy spazzed out motherfuckers. I saw people looking weird, hungry and grimey. I was Always like, 'I gotta get the fuck out
this shit.'” Travis grew up surrounded by music. His grandfather was a jazz composer with a
masters in music composition. His father was a drummer, and taught young
Travis to play when he was just three years old. A little down the line, Travis would also
learn to play piano, but quit that because, in his words, “it wasn't getting no bitches.” Travis's mother worked for the tech giant,
Apple. He also has siblings, a set of twins, nine
years his junior. As a kid, Travis would frequent Houston's
Six Flags AstroWorld. He loved the theme park so much that he's
naming his third studio album after it. But on October 30th, 2005, the park shut its
doors forever. While this was a devastating blow for young
Travis, the same year, his dad bought him studio equipment. A thirteen year old Travis Scott would then
be crafting his own songs from home. His first was over a Pharrell Williams beat. Kanye West would also be a significant artistic
influence for Travis, both as a producer and as an Emcee. (Optional: CLIP 4 reprise) Travis also greatly
admired Kid Cudi, and went as far as to say THIS in an interview with MTV News... Travis attended a private Elementary and Middle
School, before studying at the public high school, Lawrence E Elkins High. He loved private school, and was a little
less interested in high school, but managed to graduate early at the age of 17, and was
a pretty well behaved kid. He smoked weed for the first time as a junior
in high school. After toking a relatively weak hybrid of indica
and sativa called White Widow, he recalls getting so high that he knocked over a display
of potato chips at a local gas station. The only trouble he got into was for skipping
school to meet up with collaborators and make beats. As his focus on his music crystallized, Travis
began working as part of a group, and began Djing at parties. He started rapping, and expanded his producing
skills, working with just about every beat making program other than Fruity Loops, which
he hates. In 2008, he and longtime friend Chris Holloway
formed the duo The Graduates, and released their first untitled EP on My Space. The next year, he got together with OG Chess
to form the Classmates, with whom Travis released two projects, Buddy Rich in 2009, and Cruis'n
USA in 2011, before disbanding in 2012. While Travis's father had helped to nourish
Travis's budding musical talents, he wasn't always so supportive. His parents were not happy that Travis wanted
to pursue rap as a career. Often while he was making beats in his room,
his dad would storm in and rip his power cord out of the socket, or cut the power to his
room entirely. It got so bad that the two would even have
fist fights in front of Travis' friends. After high school, Travis briefly attended
the University of Texas, San Antonio and Austin, majoring in International Business. He found the experience depressing, and after
two years, he decided to drop out to continue pursuing his music. When his family found out, they were horrified,
but Travis delayed that a while by lying. After deciding to drop out, he called his
mom and asked for money for books and a new computer. When the cash arrived, he bought a plane ticket
to New York. While there, Travis spent time grinding it
out, working with Mike Waxx, and at Just Blaze's studio, Stadium Red. He was crashing at friends' houses, sleeping
on floors, and after three or four months of this, he grew tired of the New York scene. He then decided to fly out to Los Angeles. By this time, his parents had tried visiting
him at college and discovered that he wasn't there. After catching on to the fact that he had
dropped out, they cut him off financially. Around the same time, Travis' has said his
friend and collaborator, who had been travelling with him, decided to call it quits and left
him. So, Travis found himself alone, with no money,
and not even a phone. He continued to grind it out, and managed
to get some cash selling beats. that music was a dangerous career path to
follow, threw him out of the house. A friend of his bought him a ticket back to
LA, and he made his return. The moment he landed, he discovered 14 text
messages from TI and his crew, asking him to come by the studio. While Travis didn't know at the time, TI had
heard one of his productions, titled Lights called Animal. Travis would soon join TI's Grand Hustle,
with whom he would release all his music going forward. His first solo mixtape, Owl Pharaoh was released
in 2013, and it's only single, Upper Echelon, He was subleasing a room, but was thrown out
because his landlord thought he had hooked up with his girlfriend. Tavis's buddy Sickamore then got him a hotel
room to stay in, but it wouldn't be there long. While he was chilling there, he got a call
from Kanye West's people. In his first meeting with Kanye, Travis was
served a taco on a fancy platter, topped with sour cream, the only thing he seems to hate
as much as fruity loops. Still, he managed to eat the whole thing,
as Kanye listened to his beats, and offered both praise and critique. Kanye took Travis under his wing, signing
him to Good Music's production wing, Very GOOD beats. He would earn production credits on songs
like To The World, The Morning, and the remix of I Don't Like. He called his son up and told him he was proud
of him. Travis appeared on the cover of XXL, as a
member of its Freshman Class in 2013, and would go on to release his second solo mixtape,
Days Before Radio in 2014. His first studio album, Rodeo, dropped on
September 4th, 2015. It would be certified Platinum, top the US
Rap Charts and hit number three on the Billboard 200. It's lead single, 3500 would feature Future
and 2 Chainz, while Antidote would be certified Bird in the Trap Sing McKnight. The mega-successful album peaked at number
one the Billboard 200, and received serious critical praise. The album featured artists like 21 Savage,
Andre 3000, The Weaknd, Quavo, Kendrick Lamar, Bryson tiller, Young Thug and, the artist
Travis had long wanted to collaborate with, producing Kanye's Good Winter, a follow up
to Cruel Summer. Somehow, he also found time to tour, launch
his own imprint label, work on an up coming collab album with Quavo, and put together
his next studio album, AstroWorld, set to be released on September 1st, 2017. As for the rest of the story, well, you know
the story because this is before they were famous. My name's Michael McCrudden. Thanks for watching. Two more videos for you down here. Check those out, hit subscribe, and let me
know who you want me to document next in the comments down below.
