You can’t tell the story of Travis Scott without Kanye West’s clear influence. A very raw, young Scott had stylistic flourishes on Yeezus, which helped put him on the map. Once Days Before Rodeo blew up, he became a star. Meanwhile, Ye was in his corner the entire time, acting as a mentor for the Houston superstar.
By the time Rodeo came out, you could tell the influences Kanye had even further. That’s because he was instrumental in putting the album together. In a 2015 interview with Billboard, Travis Scott explained that Ye came in during the closing stretch of the album. Through his involvement, “3500” eventually became a different song entirely.
Travis Scott Recalls How Kanye West Played a Role on His Album ‘Rodeo’
“‘3500’ was something that was supposed to be on the Ye album. Something I did in Malibu. And that beat sounded completely different. That hook came cause Ye put my verse in the ASR and chopped it up,” Travis Scott recalled.
“That was going to be his single, but he was working on his album so long, and my album was coming up, so I was like ‘Yo, I wanna f**k with this.’ I was supposed to get a Ye feature for that, and I ended up redoing the beat,” he added. “This s**t wasn’t like where producers had a beat and sent it in. Every beat on this album was made from scratch. Not one beat was sent in. Not one. I was involved with every beat.”
Naturally, the interviewer inquired about Scott’s role on Ye’s own album. Immediately, the Astroworld rapper got giddy about what was in the pipeline and his involvement with it. Moreover, he believed that Yeezus brought Kanye to the peak of his powers. Similarly, Travis Scott believed that cultivating a close relationship with Ye allowed him to become better, too.
Travis says Ye’s ‘Yeezus album ‘broke the code’
“I’m glad that n***a finally broke the code with Yeezus to make God-level music which is ill as f**k, bro. It’s super raunchy. He’s like my stepdad. We always had that relationship where we cook up ideas. We [talk] all the time about random s**t: life and how we can do better as people and as rock stars. Our goal is to help people figure out who they want to be,” Travis Scott said.
This relationship lasts even today, playing a pivotal role in Ye’s slow reintroduction into the public eye. Back in November 2025, Scott brought out Kanye West for a nostalgic performance in Japan.
The post Travis Scott Called This Controversial Rapper His ‘Stepdad’ With a ‘God-Level’ Album That Broke the Hip-Hop ‘Code’ appeared first on VICE.
