Kanye West famously does not get along with most musicians these days, so when Kanye claimed Travis took some ideas from him without due credit on Utopia, nobody really thought much of it.
However, in a Rolling Stone article published August 2023, journalist Andre Gee explored the connections of Travis Scott’s sound to Kanye.
In the same article, Gee highlights observations made by writer Zazie Bae (for No Bells, an indie rap blog outlet), where Bae states that “Utopia sounds like a Kanye record because it is one.” A pretty strong statement, which was followed up by the blog clarifying their unsure stance on the matter. “…we can’t claim these details to be 100% fact, just our estimations from what leakers have told us,” they said.
But now, truth has seemingly come to light as 17 freestyle demos have leaked online that feature Kanye West rapping, mumbling and scatting for melodic and lyrical ideas. While the correlation between these and Utopia are not crystal clear, it certainly adds some weight to the allegations Kanye made in an interview with Akademiks, as one Reddit user (u/DropWatcher) pointed out in a post made on r/hiphopheads.
According to Kanye claims, he was unaware that he’d be taken off records only to be replaced with SZA and Future, without his permission to to release said records. The question remains: how much did Travis Scott really bite off Kanye? Is he truly the sort of ‘vulture’ Kanye (or even Pusha T) thinks Travis is? One can only find out upon closer inspection and corelation with the demos that have leaked here.
