On Birds, he pushes these limits even further, grabbing the atmospheric production of GOOD Music, Kid Cudi himself, along with his assisted persona, and countless Thugger ad-libs. Speaking on that last one, Birds can be seen as the penultimate ad-lib record. There is a revolting amount of quips spewed between the lines, and only about half are Scott's own.

The rest is split half between Thugger's 'Yhea!'s,' and the combination of every featured artist here. It's clear the Houston emcee is fearful of silence. Adding to that factor, out of the 14 songs here, only one lacks a guest. Ironically, it's Birds' worst, that being 'Sweet Sweet,' a bland and shoddy filler track. Scott is no stranger to artist inclusion, and here he runs the gamut between Hip-Hop legends and relative unknowns. Their results are spotty, but also indicative of Scott himself. It's just their quality is at an all-time high, and their competition on Birds an all-time low, that these two verses represent the best of the bunch here.Īndre 3000 rears his head on 'The Ends,' causing a vivid verse about the 1980 Atlanta child murders to be, by far, the most introspective aspect of Birds, while Kendrick Lamar incorporates elements of his past, in an uncomfortably parched vocal set, on 'Goosebumps.' Surprisingly, or not, these are the two worst verses from Three Stacks and Lamar in recent memory. Elsewhere, Kid Cudi appears on 'Way Back' and 'Through The Late Night' doing exactly what you'd expect Cudi to do, while Scott essentially pays homage to him. The latter track especially, and if you distance yourself enough, the album as a whole, can be seen as the closest successor to the Man On The Moon legacy. Other notable spots for different reasons go to Nav, Toronto emcee, who puts in great work on 'Biebs In The Trap,' even if he sounds an awful lot like Madeintoyko, and Bryson Tiller, on 'First Take,' for being the most generic Alternative R&B singer I've heard in my life.Īs for Travis Scott himself, he's almost never a pivotal force here, something to be expected given his low lyrical expectations. His vocals have become more entangled with autotune, a detriment to the quality overall, while the lyrics and deliveries haven't seen much improvement. That leaves the bulk of Birds' success to lie on the guests, the hooks, and the production.

Travis scott mcknight zip