Review 1: Travis Scott – Owl Pharaoh (2013)

Review – 7.2/10

Travis Scott’s 2013 debut mixtape stands out even now within his discography. Its raw sound and combination of his influences makes for an enchanting listen, particularly when viewed as the thematic ancestor of his debut 2015 album Rodeo, and the sonic predecessor of his 2023 album, Utopia. Whilst often described as still being too derivative of Kanye West and Kid Cudi, the mixtape shows an early sign of Travis’ eclectic ability to curate a project, utilising a range of features, interludes, and beat switches to this end.

The eleventh song ‘Drive’ begins with Travis flicking through cassettes, playing samples from older, fellow Houston artists – most notably the legendary DJ Screw, as well as Lil’ Flip and Z-Ro – before you hear tires screeching and his car driving. His own song starts to form, using flutes, drums and James Fauntleroy’s singing to create a almost haunting effect. Travis reflects on his past, until Travis’ dad shouts for him to turn off his music.

This song, my favourite on the mixtape, serves as a microcosm of sorts for the entire project. Both the song and mixtape serve as an introduction to Travis. His Houston origin, his sound, story, relationships, and journey. Whilst Rodeo is often given this designation, and indeed serves as a restatement of sorts, Owl Pharaoh was the first to introduce Travis on this level, and it comes across 'rawer', for want of a better term. For example, in 'Drive' and in the first song, 'Meadow Creek', Travis gives his parents’ voices a demonic sound effect reflecting his poor relationship with them.

Continuing the comparison, Owl Pharaoh is less star packed (feature wise), and with little trap influence. Travis produced or co-produced all but one of the songs on the album, and sonically, it varies immensely, sometimes within the same song. The most notable example being ‘Bad Mood/Shit on You’, where a beat switch replacing a more ‘angry’ beat with a more relaxed one, or comparing the bombastic bass of ‘Blocka La Flame’ versus ‘M.I.A’, a much more contemplative track. Its closest sonic comparison amongst Travis’ discography is easily Utopia – both have the aforementioned variety in sound and a detachment from the trap sound that dominated the 2010s. They both have delicate songs and bombastic maximalism, and yet they both somehow, for the most part, work. Travis' Houston influence is present throughout much of Owl Pharaoh, not just in the samples on Drive but in the slowed tempos, reverb and echo reminiscent of the Chopped and Screwed tradition, of which Travis can claim to be a descendant of.

The most glaring weakness, often the first thing mentioned when this mixtape is mentioned, is simply being too derivative of Kanye West and Kid Cudi. No where is this more apparent with tracks 5 and 6, ‘Uptown’ and ‘Hell of a Night’, both taking strong influence from Kanye’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Tracks 9 and 13, ‘Dance on the Moon’ and ‘16 Chapels’, also have strong Kid Cudi influence; one could easily imagine Cudi singing the chorus of ‘Dance on the Moon’. It’s not necessarily  problem to have strong influence from other artists, but it is a little too much here, and it almost makes you wish that you could hear the original artist on the song that so clearly has their influence written all over it. Kanye West only co-produced ‘Drive’, with the legendary producer Mike Dean helping on several of the songs, but nonetheless both Kanye’s and Cudi’s influence stands out.

But why look at Owl Pharaoh? I wanted to review this mixtape because key elements of Travis’ curatorial style that would become recognised as commonplace on his projects are present, even here. First of all, Travis shows his early willingness to let guest features play key roles on his album. Whilst he doesn’t have as many star guest stars as his later albums, he deploys the ones he has to great effectiveness. Most notably is James Fauntelroy’s singing on ‘Drive’, which I’ve already mentioned, and rappers like A$AP Ferg are used to help break up song, like on ‘Uptown’, preventing the listener from getting tired of Travis’ voice. Interludes are used also, like in ‘Quintana’ and ‘Bandz’, creating what's become known as a 'floating' or 'levitating' effect, and also break up the songs nicely.

But most of all is that Travis displays his ability of curating a project. Whilst he is a good rapper and producer, Travis’ main strength is his ability to curate a project, guiding it to his vision. Even when hazy, a picture of Travis that he wants you to see him as forms whilst listening to each project. But importantly, because he raps and produces, he can actually be involved in crafting it to his vision. The sonic influences, samples and voice-overs utilised, features deployed and lyrics used all contribute to a particular vision, and one gets the impression that Travis is intimately involved with all aspects of it. Whilst parts of the mixtape are overly indebted to his influences, he stays true to his principle of making songs which are easy to listen to, and his curatorial ability is, whilst not fully formed, emerging at this stage. The first song, ‘Meadow Creek’, which sounds almost like a antihero – or villain’s – theme, serves as the best introduction to Travis’ world that I can think of.

Certainly the least-discussed project Travis Scott project, I'd give it a strong recommendation for you to try. Its lack of publicity is not helped by the fact that it isn’t on streaming platforms, but it’s available on SoundCloud.