Travis Scott’s “DAYS BEFORE RODEO” review – The Beacon

Back in 2014, the aspiring rapper released his second mixtape “DAYS BEFORE RODEO” as a transition to his first studio album “RODEO,” which was released a year later. For various reasons, the mixtape never made it to streaming platforms for years.

Finally, on August 18th of this year, Travis took to Instagram to alert the world that the classic mixtape would be re-released on all streaming platforms just five days later on August 25th. I had never heard the tape re-released until then, so at first I had no idea what to expect from the ten-year-old project.

Initially, Travis did really well here, even though it was his second outing. Some of my favorite tracks are “Mamacita,” “Drugs You Should Try It” (or “DYSTI” for short), and “Backyard.” All because I enjoyed his performance on all the songs.

Travis offers one of his better verses on “Mamacita” while taking the stage with Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan. Even Travis' chorus is iconic in its own realm.

“DYSTI” tones the album down a bit as Travis presents his usual sound that we hear today. On the track we get a melodic performance from Travis that I'm impressed with. The fact that he can go from “hype mode” to this state on two titles is crazy. Additionally, the raps we get out of him in his verses are also great and even offer a unique flow that I don't think he uses much anymore.

And finally, with “Backyard,” Travis is once again a hype man and completely over the moon. From the beginning to the end of the track, he is full of energy every second. This type of performance captivated me for the almost five minute song. Because of these examples of greatness, it's easy to say that Travis' performance was great.

As far as features go, I think they were pretty good all around.

“Mamacita” features Travis' better half, Young Thug, as well as Rich Homie Quan. Both fit Travis perfectly and build seamlessly on his verses. I always enjoy a good contribution from Young Thug, so I expected to hear this song for the first time just because of him.

Next up we have “Don’t Play” featuring The 1975 and Big Sean. When I first saw the feature list, I found it strange that The 1975 showed up. However, I welcomed it as soon as the track was over as they were doing really well. The same goes for Big Sean. There were no real standouts here, but there was nothing to complain about either.

We get another Young Thug feature on “Skyfall.” It provides a bridge that leads to his verse as well as the second verse of the title. As always, I enjoy everything Young Thug brings to the collaboration between him and Travis Scott. Although his verse is short compared to the rest of the song, it makes the track sound a little different so it doesn't become boring.

Last but not least, our features include all three Migos and Peewee Longway in “Sloppy Toppy”. The atmosphere that each of the Migos provides is phenomenal. Each of them recited all three of his verses. The song immediately begins with Quavo rapping as usual, Takeoff interrupts the song between Travis and Peewee's verses, and Offset ends the song with a verse. Even though I really had no idea who Peewee Longway was, his performance on the track was quite nice. However, I don't think his verse and all three Migos verses were necessary.

Overall, though, the features were pretty great. None of them made me want to turn off a track immediately, so they've got the job done.

As for the production of the record, it features most of the early 2010s trap beats heard in 2014. I say that, but I mean it in the best possible way. Every beat bubbles with creativity and is not like today's instrumentals that all end up sounding the same. With songs like “Mamacita,” “Drugs You Should Try It,” and “Backyard,” each track booms with its production. Each track identifies the mood Travis is going for and quickly achieves this with the way they all sound sonically. Instrumentals that match the tone the artist is trying to capture are obviously the best. This is why the production is great.

And finally: How replayable is “DAYS BEFORE RODEO”? With a length of 47 minutes on 12 tracks, the album is, in my opinion, relatively average in terms of time. That's a great start for me, as I tend to despise longer albums where I'm trying to find time and songs for extra money. Towards the end of most records it tends to make the album listening experience boring.

However, here I found it very easy to listen to the entire album from start to finish, making it quite repeatable if you want to listen to it again for any reason. The album is also divided into three sections. Starting with hype songs, in the middle more of the psychedelic tracks that Travis Scott is known for today, and ending with more hype songs like “Basement Freestyle” and “Backyard”. This division of tracks is ideal for captivating listeners throughout. For this reason, the replayability of the album is amazing.

Finally, “DAYS BEFORE RODEO” is somewhere between great and amazing. This gives the album a 7 out of 10 points from me.