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Travis Scott · S2 E4
Owl Pharaoh
The first mixtape: chaotic, overambitious, and a clear signal that something new was coming
The internet, May 21, 2013. A twenty-one-year-old drops a mixtape called Owl Pharaoh into the same online ecosystem that just broke Chance the Rapper and Chief Keef, and half the tracks sound like they were mixed inside a tornado.
Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly, official Netflix trailer (2019). This documentary traces the full arc from bedroom producer to ASTROWORLD headliner. Owl Pharaoh is where that arc begins: messy, loud, overambitious, and impossible to ignore.
Everything at Once
Owl Pharaoh isn't polished. It's not supposed to be. Travis throws every influence he has into sixteen tracks: Kanye's maximalism, T.I.'s Southern grit, Kid Cudi's psychedelic haze, and enough reverb to fill a cathedral. Features include T.I., 2 Chainz, Wale, Meek Mill, and a young Drake on "MIA."
Sources
Owl Pharaoh tracklist, Grand Hustle / Epic Records, 2013
Quintana, Travis Scott (2013)
The standout from Owl Pharaoh and the first real glimpse of what Travis Scott would become. The beat is built on a haunting vocal loop that sounds like a choir singing from underwater. Travis layers his own voice three or four times over itself until it becomes texture, not lyrics. The 808s come in late and hit harder because you waited for them. This is the first time you can hear the ASTROWORLD sound being sketched in pencil.
Sources
Owl Pharaoh credits, Grand Hustle / Epic Records, 2013
“I just wanted to get it out there. I didn't care if it was perfect. I cared if it was different. Nobody was making stuff that sounded like that.”
— Travis Scott, interview with Complex, "Travis Scott's Oral History," 2015
TAP TO REVEAL: How did a Drake feature end up on a mixtape from a nobody?
Which future superstar appeared on Owl Pharaoh's track "MIA" before he was known for doing features for unknown artists?
CAROUSEL, Travis Scott
From ASTROWORLD (2018). Frank Ocean delivers a whispered intro about a love story, then Travis takes over with a dizzying, looping beat that sounds like a theme park ride spinning out of control. The song captures the exact feeling of the Owl Pharaoh era: everything moving too fast, too many sounds at once, and a kid holding on trying not to fall off.
CAROUSEL, Travis Scott (2018)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Frank Ocean's intro sets the mood: a story about chasing something beautiful that keeps spinning away. Travis spends the rest of the track trying to catch up. It's the sound of ambition outrunning ability, which is exactly where he was in 2013.
Owl Pharaoh proves Travis can make noise. But one track from the tape is about to cut through louder than the rest. Next: "Upper Echelon" hits every hip-hop blog in America, and suddenly the kid from Missouri City has a real fanbase.
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