The rapper Travis Scott thinks can compete with Jay-Z: “He can go bar to bar”
Travis Scott has never shied away from his musical influences. One of those at the top of his list is Kid Cudi, with the Houston rapper citing the Lonely Stoner as inspiring an entire generation of kids who weren’t drug-dealing.
Scott believes in his ability so much that he thinks Cudi can compete with the legendary Jay-Z when it comes to lyrics. Speaking on Beats 1 (now known as Apple Music 1), he praised Cudi for speaking his own language and creating his own sound.
“I idolise Kid Cudi a lot. That’s like, my favourite artist,” he said. “I think he can go bar to bar—like some people think Jay-Z is the best rapper. I feel like he can compete with that and still have his own wave. I fuck with him, because he always had his own lingo.”
He continued, “He created a world for kids like me, who wasn’t just like, the ultimate like drug dealer. He created that vibe and that planet, where you can mack on bitches and still be smooth, and still feel like you’re the king scientist. Not everyone is as real as their music is. That artist comes once every decade.”
Scott previously revealed that his stage name was inspired by Cudi’s real name. “My government name is Jacques Berman Webster II, I’m named after my dad,” he said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “My uncle is named Travis and Kid Cudi is one of my favourite artists of all time and his real name is Scott Mescudi, and my uncle’s friend’s call him Scott too, so it kinda worked out, like, my two superheroes.”
While he may be a super fan of Cudi, the respect goes both ways. Thanks to La Flame, Cudi secured his first number one single on the Hot 100 in 2020 with their ‘The Scotts’ collaboration. A collaborative album was even set to be released following its success, but the idea has since been scrapped.
“I was kind of nervous about doing a song with Travis,” Cudi told Esquire. “I was like, ‘Man, he looks up to me so much. What if I don’t show up on this song? What if I suck?’ I don’t get anything out of this unless I’m working with my family; that’s when shit really means something. Seeing that I got my first number one with Trav, that means the most to me. It wasn’t just with some other person. It was with Trav.”
Cudi and Scott have collaborated many other times over the years on songs such as ‘Get Off Me’, ‘Baptized in Fire’, ‘At the Party’, ‘Looove’ and ‘Through the Late Night’. Despite his comments about Jay-Z, Scott collaborated with Hov on ‘Crown’ in 2013, which appeared on his Magna Carta Holy Grail album.