While the rest of the music industry cancelled tours and pushed back record releases in response to COVID-19, Travis Scott pulled off the most ambitious concert of his career: as a floating plantoid head rapping to 27.7 million people in Fortnite. Like every one of the star’s concerts, it was electric and unforgettable. And like everything Scott creates lately, it charted a new path for how artists can connect with their audience.
Which is why Travis Scott is on the cover of GQ’s September 2020 “Change Is Good” issue. Like everyone we’ve profiled this month, Scott understands that the next great thing is always ahead of us.
To figure out what that might be, writer Gerrick D. Kennedy hung out with him at his Cactus Jack office in West Hollywood. When writer Kennedy asks him where he’ll go after his blockbuster album Astroworld, Scott says, “You go to utopia. That’s where we go.”
To get there, Scott’s working on the present. He’s in conversation with the mayor of his hometown, Houston, in order to get more involved in the community. In the profile Scott also talks about writing music for Christopher Nolan’s mysterious blockbuster Tenet and coming up with—and now collaborating with—Kanye West. Utopia, it turns out, is a lot of things at once.
Check out the full story below, featuring Adrienne Raquel’s first cover shoot for GQ and styling by Mobolaji Dawodu.
Read “How Travis Scott Defied the Rules of Celebrity to Become King of the Youth”
