TRAVIS Scott had a nightmare end to 2021. The stampede at Astroworld festival in November claimed the lives of ten people, and the rapper from Houston, Texas has found himself in the middle of a swirling inferno of cancel culture amid his questionable responses to the disaster.
His year had been going well up until Astroworld, keeping busy with sponsorship deals and working on several collaborations with fellow rappers Baby Keem, Ye, and Don Toliver.
In June he announced an exciting collaboration between Dior and his label Cactus Jack for the 2022 Summer Men’s collection, marking the first time the luxury Parisian fashion house had partnered with a musician on a collection.
Scott also had his eyes set on big things in 2022 with the upcoming release of his fourth studio album Utopia – his first solo album since the ground-breaking Astroworld release in 2018.
But ironically, while Astroworld was his golden ticket to the pinnacle of hip hop, it also proved to be the catalyst for his fall from grace. The festival in Houston last year was a tragedy, and it looks unlikely Scott’s career will ever recover from it.
By now most people will be aware of what happened on November 5th last year. A stampede at the third edition of the festival led to the deaths of ten people, which were recently ruled to be caused by accidental compressive asphyxiation.
A further 300 injuries and 25 hospitalisations resulted from the incident, with Travis apparently unaware of the situation whilst continuing to perform on stage.
The rapper’s ill-advised appearance on social media shortly after the event compounded doubts that he wasn’t dealing with the situation with enough empathy, as did his decision to offer to pay for the victims’ funerals. Scott, alongside festival organisers Live Nation, now faces dozens of lawsuits and a Congressional committee is launching an investigation into what happened.
The incident has affected every facet of Scott’s life. Legally he’s in big trouble. Personally, it has taken a toll on his family as girlfriend Kylie Jenner ceased all Instagram activity for seven weeks after receiving a barrage of criticism in the comments of her posts.
Professionally, cancel culture has sunk its teeth deep into Travis’ future as an artist. Utopia is yet to have a release date and the promising partnership with Dior has also been suspended out of respect to the victims. Other brands like Nike, BAPE and Hot Wheels have all followed suit.
Being dropped as a Coachella 2022 headliner was the latest blow for the Sicko Mode rapper, with reports saying his most likely replacement will be Billie Eilish or Ye.
Add everything up and it doesn’t look good. Scott’s negligence on stage and his history with inciting violence at performances is one thing, but to appear so brazenly insincere in the aftermath is what’s really killing the rapper right now. A full career recovery seems like a big ask at this point.
The Live Nation lawsuit could take some of the heat off if they are found to be negligible, as could new safety policies and measures for festivals of that size backed by Scott himself. One thing is for sure, his PR team will need to work overtime in 2022.
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