Astroworld's tragedy, Kanye's take on Big Sean and the evolution of Charli XCX
This week, we reflect on the willful ignorance that led to the tragedy at Astroworld, stunning comments made by Kanye West during his Drink Champs interview and Charli XCX's artistic growth.
Welcome back!
This week we caught up with rising rapper NxG, following the release of his first album, Outta Here Soon.
We profiled the Philly-based musician last month in our “Journey of a New Artist” series. Find links to the interview below!
This week on the newsletter:
Nnamdi highlights the series of failures that likely led to the tragedy at Astroworld.
Noah dissects Kanye’s now-famous comments on Big Sean from last week’s Drinks Champs interview.
Avery reflects on the unique career trajectory of Charli XCX.
Happy reading!!
NxG Interview:
With Astroworld, comes a reckoning on artist responsibility
Nnamdi, @NnamEgwuon
Travis Scott, the performer, is not singularly responsible for the failures that led to nine people dying following the first night of his Astroworld Festival. Blaming him solely does a disservice to the magnitude of this tragedy.
Within three days of the mass casualty event, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner revealed that in advance of the festival, “he asked Travis Scott and his team to work with the Police Department for all events, and be mindful of their social media messaging.” He essentially deflected blame to organizers before anyone could question why police couldn’t intervene fast enough to save lives.
There’s no evidence that Scott or his team failed to adhere to those guidelines. What Finner’s statement does suggest, though, is that despite his “public safety concerns,” his department failed to recommend or implement any policy that would’ve better prepared both concertgoers and officers for the “challenges” he suspected would incur.
It suggests that at no point, despite these public safety concerns, did the chief attempt to stop or delay the festival — At no point did the chief turn his concerns into action. And his near-immediate attempt to deflect blame ignores the reality that both he and the department he runs, bear partial responsibility for this concert-turned-calamity.
Festival organizer ScoreMore and national promoter Live Nation are named as defendants in nearly all of the lawsuits filed in the days following the festival. A mounting class-action understandably accuses the organizations of negligence.
It doesn’t take much research to uncover Travis Scott’s reputation of inciting rowdy, occasionally violent crowds.
In 2015, he was charged with disorderly conduct after encouraging fans during his Lollapalooza set, to run through security barriers and join him on stage. In 2017, he was charged with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct and endangering the welfare of a minor after, again, telling fans to rush the stage. At another show in 2017, Scott coaxed a fan into jumping from the second-floor balcony of the venue … into the crowd. The fan reported no injuries, so all would’ve been fine -- if another man wasn’t later *pushed* from the third-floor balcony into the crowd. He’s now paralyzed.
Organizers should have accessed the risk that came with curating “Travis Scott’s festival.” They had to have known that part of his allure is commanding over near-violent mosh pits, with an intensity that only increases as the night goes on. They had to have known that the performer they were dealing with was so popular in Houston, his hometown, that it was likely fans were going to try to storm security. Especially considering they did so during the first Astroworld fest.
There was ample evidence to suggest the festival, which was sidelined for a year due to the pandemic, could get packed and rowdy. Yet neither organization had a contingency plan on how to manage a crowd surge. And that lack of foresight likely laid the foundation for the 25 hospitalizations and nine deaths that now stem from that night.
Travis Scott isn’t singularly responsible for the failures at AstroFest. But he may carry the largest brunt of accountability.
I’ve struggled to articulate what level of scrutiny the performer deserves. A legal expert will tell you Scott’s job isn’t to ensure that his fans are safe -- that’s what his team and hired security are for. His job is to deliver a 90-minute set that gives value to the tickets purchased by attendees.
The general hope, though, is that he’d care enough to do beyond the bare minimum required of him. The hope is that he’d act after spotting anything that would suggest his fans are in danger. And that didn’t happen. Scott paused his show *four* times. But, not once did he tell his fans to calm down. Or ask the audience to steer clear of the ambulance driving through. He didn’t, apparently, seek any assurances that things were fine. And now there’s footage of the show continuing in the face of fans screaming “someone is dead.”
I believe Scott when he says he wasn’t aware of the *severity* of the situation. But, I do think that he knew there was a *situation.* And instead of immediately ending the show to rectify that situation, someone somewhere, be it a festival organizer, police, or Scott himself, let the show go on. And now, nine people are dead.
No single person is responsible for this tragedy, and framing the night in that light doesn’t adequately scrutinize the cascading failures that led to it. It was the result of complicity and willful ignorance -- from the police that ignored their concerns, to the organizers that ignored precedent, to the headliner that ignored screams.
Y’all hear about this?
Signing Big Sean is not the worst thing Kanye West has ever done
Noah, @noahamcgee
“Drink Champs” is a podcast hosted by Queens rapper N.O.R.E. and Miami record label executive DJ EFN. The premise of the show is to bring guests on the show and have them drink while the hosts ask any questions they want, in hopes of scoring candid, unfiltered answers.
And boy, did Kanye West deliver.
Last week, while on “Drink Champs” the rapper and former presidential candidate said, “the worst thing that I have ever done is sign Big Sean.” West made many other questionable comments while on the show but this is one of the most alarming.
Now, West did not say this because of Big Sean’s rapping ability. West claimed that “both John Legend and Big Sean, when I ran for office, got used quick by the democrats to come at the boy that actually changed they life, now that’s some sellout shit.”
While I disagree with this statement and don’t feel like getting into the reasons why West is incorrect. I do feel like getting into the reasons why singing Big Sean was not a mistake.
Big Sean is the artist that has the strongest ties to GOOD Music. Pusha T and Common had already released a plethora of music by the time they signed to the label. Teyana Taylor never felt like a priority while on the label. Desiigner never panned out. Kid Cudi did his own thing.
Big Sean was put on by Kanye. He was the rising star on the label. He had the signature verse on arguably the most popular song from the label’s compilation album Cruel Summer, “Mercy.”
All Big Sean has done throughout his career is improve as an MC. After the release of Big Sean’s first two albums Finally Famous and Hall of Fame, he was known as an artist that could make hit songs such as “Dance (A$$)” and “Guap.” He was not respected for his lyrical ability, and rightfully so because a lot of his lyrics were corny, uninspiring and bad.
I mean just listen to some of the lyrics by Big Sean in this hilarious video from Dead End Hip Hop.
But ever since that moment, Sean has improved his punchlines, gotten more personal with his content and more precise with his songwriting. Dark Sky Paradise, I Decided and Double or Nothing have all been solid projects, each showcasing his development as an artist.
But his most personal, realized and inspiring music came on his 2020 album Detroit 2. Where he discussed family, relationships, health and even his mortality.
Hell, last week he released a dope EP with Hit-Boy that was impressive.
Instead of using the opportunity to acknowledge how much Big Sean has grown as a rapper, Kanye West took the time to disrespect Big Sean because he didn’t support him running for President. Miss me with that Ye.
Now on the 97 Demo Mix:
Songs from: Terrace Martin, NxG, Latto and Charli XCX
The reverse trajectory of Charli XCX’s career
Avery, @AveryDalal
Last week, Charli XCX announced a new album, Crash, releasing in March of next year, and also put out a single for it called New Shapes featuring Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek.
The new single was really great! I liked it better than the last one she put out, Good Ones, but it was not exactly what I was expecting from Charli at this point. With her last couple of albums, she’s really steered into a hyper pop direction, and it’s one that’s really worked for her.
Last year she released, how i’m feeling now, which was the definition of a “pandemic album” but also an album that has aged incredibly well. Based on the new singles though, I think Charli will stray away from that into more of an 80s pop direction (which feels like what everyone is doing now).
This isn’t new for Charli, however. The trajectory of her career has pretty much been the opposite of how one would traditionally imagine a pop star.
Her first album True Romance came out in 2013, but it wasn’t until her 2014 effort SUCKER where she truly broke out. That second album included songs like Boom Clap and Break the Rules. It was also this same year that Fancy by Iggy Azalea came out and seemingly took the world by storm. That hook, in my humble opinion, is one of the best of the 2010s just because of how infectious it is.
While she had these hits, all of these songs were very radio-friendly pop hits. They were popular, but nothing refreshing at the time and had a very broad appeal.
In 2016, things started to change when she released her Vroom Vroom EP, which has her best song, again in my opinion, the title track. It was on this EP where she really started to make her sound a little more niche and veer into a hyper pop direction while mixing those sensibilities with more mainstream pop sounds. It’s clear at this point that Charli had an idea of where she wanted her career to go.
It wasn’t until her 2019 album Charli, where I feel the sounds she laid the foundation for in Vroom Vroom were fully realized. This album is pretty generally considered her best effort, and for good reason. It felt very refreshing from someone who is considered a popstar, mixing futuristic sounds with modern pop aesthetics.
However, my favorite album of hers came last year, with the aforementioned how i’m feeling now. It was a loud and kind of experimental album, and at the time of its release, it was something that I deeply resonated with. That album too took her career into a more niche place than ever before. She experimented with all sorts of sounds where some people didn’t vibe with it.
Her career has so fascinated me because she started with so much acclaim and pop stardom and took it in a direction where her music only became more niche. Usually, with popstars, you see them do the opposite, building a small fanbase with something unique and growing to become more widely acclaimed. If I think of a pop star's career as a pyramid, then I would view Charli’s as an inverted one (shoutout j-school).
While her new singles have me really intrigued with where she goes next, I am very inclined to trust her judgment, because she hasn’t been wrong yet.
Edited by Hope Davis :)
Ep. 67: NxG Interview
Ep. 61: 97 Demo Profiles: NxG
Tweet of the week: