A few months ago, Travis Scott came to our office to play a few tracks from Owl Pharaoh, the mixtape he first announced in 2011, plus an amazing song from G.O.O.D. Music's apparently scrapped album Cruel Winter. (Though Scott is signed to Epic, via T.I.’s Grand Hustle, he has worked a bunch with Kanye West.) In the places where verses were yet to be recorded, he rapped for us live. On top of tracks with Scott's own sharp production, there was a song produced by Toro Y Moi, which sounded like no other Toro Y Moi song, plus one featuring Bon Iver, whose name Scott misspelled "Bon Ivor" in his iTunes. In person, the 21-year-old was erratic, his speech jittery and delivered as if he was talking to his own lap; his hands spent most of the hour tucked into the waistband of his gym shorts. But most importantly, the music banged. And here it finally is.
Download: Travis Scott, Owl Pharaoh