Travis Scott is one of Hip-Hop’s most popular rappers today–beyond his engaging stage presence, Scott is widely regarded as a prime exemplifier of an artist that truly aims to ensure every fan at the show is safe and equally engaged, too. Appropriately, the underlying facets of Scott’s wildly followed success story are presented in the new Netflix documentary dubbed “Look Mom I Can Fly.” Highlighting the life of Scott, the documentary came out on Aug. 28 at midnight.
The film’s genesis surrounds Scott’s life in the year 2017, in Houston, Texas. Travis is shown visiting his grandmother to share his upbringing in his old room that he used to share with his brother living with autism. The documentary transitions to one of Scott’s first major tours, dubbed the “Birds Eye Tour.” During his tour, Travis is shown getting arrested for allegedly inciting a riot in Northwest Arkansas. Artists are often arrested if the concert is too rowdy and out of hand, in order to ensure a restoration of public safety and peace.
In highlighting the start of a slew of clips revealing the music inspirations for Scott over the time of his immense uprise– from destinations to interactions– the documentary showcases Travis drawing inspiration from performing in Africa for the first time. He brought home a new friend and remained close with him. Later, that friend became known as Sheck Wes, who wrote one of 2018’s most popular rap songs, called “Mo Bamba.” Travis brought Sheck Wes along with him in his most recent, widely successful tour of all time– the Astroworld Tour– to perform with him.
An Interviewer then asks Travis what his goal for music is, with Scott responding happily, “to leave a legacy and pave the way for new artists.”
Notably, Scott created a record label called Cactus Jack Records in March 2017, so he can help new artists make it in the music industry. Travis says, “before I leave, I just want to leave the whole world inspired, and I just want to leave a trail of inspiration.” Even the city of Missouri wanted to recognize Travis for all of his accomplishments, as the film outlines, as it declared “Travis Scott Day” on Feb. 10, 2018.
The documentary also divulges Scott’s experiences in returning right back to work on what would become his best selling album by a mile: “Astroworld.” In going to other places to further develop the album, like Hawaii, Scott was finally nearing the end of the album.
“Astroworld” was released on August 3, 2018, generating rapid success from across the industry. It went platinum in two weeks and was the number one album in the world; it also gained over 1 billion streams on Apple Music.
The movie transitions back to 2014, when Travis had his first concert–only 15 people showed up. As the documentary juxtaposes, now, every concert Scott performs at displays thousands of unthinkably loud fans from across the world.
As a kid, Scott withheld a deep fondness for an amusement park staple in Houston that closed down shortly thereafter, called Astroworld. The amusement park, open for 37 years, carried a lot of meaning for him during his childhood, and Scott was devastated.. Travis’s dream quickly became to re-open Astroworld again for the public– and he would do just that. The new amusement park opened up across from where the old Astroworld was when he was younger. Fittingly, this time, Scott turns Astroworld into a music festival; it included all the carnival rides, too.
As a result of Scott’s lengthy string of success, he was nominated in three categories at the Grammy Awards this year. Scott was nominated for “Best Rap Song,” as well as “Best Rap Album” and “Best Rap Performance.” Unfortunately, Scott never saw victory in any of the categories. Adding to his historic year, however, Scott is shown performing at the Halftime show during the 2019 Super Bowl. As any artist would argue, performing in the Super Bowl was the biggest stage Scott has ever performed on.
Travis is ultimately shown returning to Houston to see the mayor of the city. The documentary shows the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, declaring Nov. 18, 2018 as “Astroworld Day,” in honor of Travis Scott. Mayor Turner–during one of Scott’s shows in Houston–also presents him with the key to the city.
This past year was undoubtedly Travis Scott’s year for music.