So that’s where Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight lands – somewhere in musical purgatory. The continued and plentiful presence of lyrics like “we go back like futons and coupons” dooms the “mature” look. The songs don’t have as much rambunctious energy as previous works, but while a greater emphasis on storytelling could’ve picked up the slack, nothing on Birds matches the more insightful* cuts on Rodeo like “90210” or “Oh My Dis Side”.
![travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review](http://commons.trincoll.edu/tripod/files/2016/09/travis_scott220814-3.jpg)
The move toward relative subtlety leaves Scott in a spot of unfulfilled potential. Birds ends up sounding like Scott read too many negative reviews, tried to tone down his eccentricity, smooth out his edges, and create a “mature” album. Scott had a few obvious angles to approach Birds: double down on Rodeo and ramp up the energy, zoom in on the hangover following the party, or pull back the curtain entirely on the backstory of Jacques Webster, the man behind Travis Scott. It’s plain awkward, and each artist sounds like a washed-out, timid version of themselves. Scott makes a poor attempt at a Tiller impression and Tiller sounds like he’s reading his lyrics off a page for the first time. The same thing happens on “first take”, a muddy collaboration with Bryson Tiller that looks good on paper but falters in practice. It’s the kind of empty turn-up track that is begging for an artist like Rae Sremmurd to fill with personality, but Scott just matches the track with an equally blank-stared verse. Lyrics like “Beast, beast it/Bite me, ride me, strike me, indict me” read like discarded Anthony Kiedis lines.
![travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.1144405657.8706/poster,504x498,f8f8f8-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg)
It’s a bland trap cut that Scott sleepwalks through, that doesn’t have any of the swagger, the fire that made Scott a known entity. You feel Scott’s presence.įor juxtaposition, listen to “biebs in the trap”. The “brr brr” ad libs and the hyperactive bass and the little references to real-life places (which passes for intimacy in the Travis Scott realm) make the song feel more lived-in than many of the album’s lesser cuts. That would be pointless praise (see: modern Eminem) if the song as a whole wasn’t also one of the most musically interesting of the album. Goaded by a typically fantastic Kendrick Lamar guest appearance, Scott drops one of the best technical verses of his career. “goosebumps”, a trap-flavored cut that easily could have devolved into sad rap and nothing-isms, is instead graced with a unique La Flare flow. “through the late night” is a microcosm of Birds as a whole in that Birds peaks when a talented guest is lighting a fire under Scott to keep him on track. Cudi sounds like he’s been listening to Days Before Rodeo’s “Skyfall”, which is fascinating since when Scott first arrived on the scene (and still to this day), people accused him, not always incorrectly, of ripping from Cudi.
![travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review](https://www.tucmag.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/travis-scott.jpg)
Heavily autotuned, Cudi sings the chorus through moans and hums, and when it feels like the chorus is just turning into a verse, the vocals instead ramp up, intensifying for a few more bars.
![travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/NvwAAOSwZCxhCnn4/s-l300.jpg)
You can still see traces of that indulgence, like in the standout “through the late night”, where Scott brings in his musical father, Kid Cudi. The extended breakdowns and cinematic outros have been trimmed in favor of compact, straight to the point tracks. Birds is a 14 song, 54-minute affair, and it’s far less extravagant than its predecessor. Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight sees Travis Scott trading in the vibrant layers of Rodeo for relatively muted colors, emphasis on relatively. “3500” was the maximum of the maximalist Rodeo, but the rest of the album was still packed with instruments, vocal effects, production wizardry from Mike Dean, and creative beat breakdowns.
Travis scott birds in the trap sing mcknight review Patch#
That song is seven minutes and forty-one seconds of Scott, Future and 2 Chainz (spazzing, slurring, and spitting, respectively) over a densely packed beat featuring disembodied gothic vocalization over a thick Yeezus-inspired synth line over a string patch over a xylophone and bell melody over a ’70s rock guitar riff over sharp snares and an 808 and kick pairing, and at the end of the song, it all melts into a Houston-style slurry of a melody, a plinking synth meandering up and down the spectrum. He has also been a maximalist – think “3500” from his excellent and overflowing debut, Rodeo. He is an expert mood curator, gracing only the most prime of instrumentals (and tweaking the lesser ones until they’re right), placing guests in the perfect environment, using smoke machines and neon lights to frame his signature mysterious and angst-dripping sound. Travis Scott has displayed two great strengths through his career.