Review Summary: La Flame's "Rodeo" is an uneven ride.
With all of the attention Kanye West gets for his music, personal life and brash personality, his ability to discover and mentor up-and-coming talent is seriously overlooked. Since establishing his record label G.O.O.D (short for Getting Out Our Dreams) Music in 2004, West has played a pivotal role in launching the careers of a number of superstar rappers including Big Sean, Chief Keef and Kid Cudi. Houston-bred producer-turned MC Travi$ Scott-who was signed by G.O.O.D. Music in 2011 when he was just 19 years old-is the latest of West protege’s to hit it big. Scott’s hotly anticipated debut full-length album, Rodeo, is an interesting albeit uneven ride that is defined and derailed by his ambition.
Rodeo may have the staples of a traditional trap rap record (lyrics primarily about sex and drugs, heavy use of 808 drum machines in the beats, guest spots from a number of the genre’s heavyweights including Juicy J, Future and 2 Chainz), but its style is much more distinct. While the Atlanta-based trap rappers that make up a majority of the scene use in-your-face beats and loud, repetitive hooks as the backbone of their music, Scott makes heavy use of AutoTune, industrial-influenced production and the chopped-and-screwed vocal effect that put his hometown of Houston’s hip-hop scene on the map. This blending of different influences results in a sound that is borderline psychedelic and low-key without discarding the energy that trap is known for. Tracks such as lead single “Antidote”, “Pornography”, “Apple Pie” and “Nightcrawler”- which features top-notch guest verses from Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee and the always-entertaining Chief Keef- are some of the boldest and most satisfying songs to come out of the trap scene in a while. Each one of these tracks combines gritty beats with ridiculously catchy hooks to make songs that are fun as hell and have a seemingly endless amount of replay value. The highlights of the album do a great job of showcasing Scott as a unique and interesting personality in a genre that’s not exactly known for innovation and tease the possibility that Rodeo could be a landmark release in the increasingly crowded trap genre.
Unfortunately, Rodeo squanders its initial promise when Scott makes the puzzling decision to stray from his lo-fi trap wheelhouse and attempts to tackle more substantial topics at numerous points throughout the album. There’s nothing wrong with a trap artist tackling serious topics, but when Scott does it, it’s ill-conceived and completely disingenuous. When Scott starts crooning about his internal struggles and social issues regarding race on “90210”, “Pray 4 Love”, “Flying High” and “Impossible”, it comes across as a cheap and swiftly calculated move to try and add depth to his music. Unlike the party-based material, Scott seems bored on the mic and each song sounds like it was haphazardly put together just for the sake of saying that he has more of a conscious than your average trap artist. Worst of all, these tracks bring Scott’s deficiencies as a lyricist to the surface. The lyrics on Rodeo are hardly ever impressive, but when the interesting song structures and charm Scott displays on the album’s lighter material disappear, his shallow lyrics become distracting and make every single one of this record’s serious cuts a chore to sit through.
There is plenty of praise-worthy moments and ideas on Rodeo, but Scott’s inability to decide on a musical identity ultimately sinks the record. Scott wants to be this multi-faceted, hip-hop Renaissance man who talks about everything from drugs to the pressures of fame to social issues, but is only convincing as the stripper and substance-obsessed party boy. Hip-hop is a genre where it’s especially important to buy what your selling and until Scott decides to exclusively write about stuff he truly believes in, the quality of his work will suffer immensely. Scott has no shortage of potential and ambition, he just needs to find a way to better channel his creativity if he wants to become a truly innovative and noteworthy artist.
