Former Mentor Calls Kanye West-Associate Travis Scott “a Thief and Liar”

The internets are a strange place, especially when it comes to new rap acts. We go on and on about how the music is always the most importnat aspect in deciding what we enjoy and support, but you can’t seem to get past this hype that exists, even it doesn’t really come from a real place. I, admittedly, knew of Travis Scott after learning of his associations with Kanye West. The first song I heard was “Animal“, which he apparently produced. I enjoyed it, especially production-wise. It reminded me of stuff on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (the drums specifically, “Monster”), but the rapping was rather pedestrian, if not just poor. I then posted “Up“, being a fan of Casey Veggies and having enjoyed his part on the song, especially, but Travis’ contribution to this song really did nothing for me. I briefly browsed through his older stuff on YouTube, but nothing really stuck. He was on Meek Mill’s Dreamchasers 2, and I knew of the T.I., Tricky Stewart, and, of course, Kanye West associations so I kept on paying attention. On his Tumblr, he revealed how he added production on “Mercy”, “New God Flow” and what would be a few others from G.O.O.D. Musics’ Cruel Summer, but his time to shine on the album, “Sin City”, just wasn’t any good. It didn’t make sense to me why I thought Travis Scott wasn’t even a “thing”.

Complex did a “Who Is Travis Scott” feature recently, in which the 20-year-old breaks down how he got to where he is today, without really naming names, aside from guys like T.I. and Kanye West. Now, Shane Morris, formerly of Earmilk.com, who claims to have discovered Travis, tells a very interesting new side of Travis’ story .

In a post on Tumblr, Shane describes how he listened to Travis’ music in early 2010 and attempted to put him in the right direction musically, at least in terms of actual examples to listen to and study. After hearing some obvious improvement in Travis’ music, Morris talks about contacting several online music publications to post Travis’ music because, Morris felt, that Travis’ was something special. Morris, whose network in music is far and wide, introduced Scott to friends and gave him free access to a local recording studio. Things changed as time passed, however, when Travis seemed to have a change in personality. He attempted to steal a recording session that wasn’t entirely his. He started getting hype at the fact that he knew all these famous people. And worst of all, one night, he left Shane, an epileptic, mid-seizure without bother. Travis would then refuse Morris’ services as a manager because “How do I know you’re not just gonna be shaking on the ground and shit?”.

Read the end of Morris’ letter:

I spent two months, every single day, in The Dungeon with Travis, helping him record Owl Pharaoh. I remember him rapping on his iPhone, arguing with Will the engineer. I remember when he tried to steal Will and Barry’s productions, to a point where Will decided to sabotage his entire album. No one wants to work with someone who steals from them – and that’s what Travis does.

I heard this week Travis Scott signed a 360 deal with Kanye West for $870,000. Am I happy for him? Not at all. He might be one of the most purely talented producers and rappers in the industry, but he’s a thief, a liar, and he manipulates what he wants out of people until he’s used them all up. There’s no such thing as loyalty to Travis Scott.

Personally, I can’t wait to see Travis Scott fall from grace, and be the next cautionary rap tale.

Last week I got a letter from the attorneys representing Sony and Epic Records, letting me know it was their intent to pursue legal action against me, on behalf of Travis Scott. I posted a song that he did with OG CHESS and ASAP FERG on my Soundcloud – a song they did in November of 2011. A song that he stole from OG CHESS. I know, because we still have the original session, with a timestamp. Travis wants to sue me, because I posted something he stole from someone else.

Travis Scott is a punk. I’ll stand by that as long as I live. Fuck Travis Scott.

Make your own opinion about his music and his new position (of sorts) in the (internet) limelight, but here is one man’s account of the rapper/producer. Read the post in full.

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