The Supersonic, Superstoned Adventures Of Travis Scott

Pizza with Kylie Jenner, love from the mayor, and quality time with Grandma Sealie: A Lamborghini tour of Houston with hip-hop’s newest superstar

- Jonah Weiner

Travis Scott wants to see Kylie Jenner before her private jet takes off, but he’s running late to meet her, so he punches the gas on his Lamborghini SUV and sends the speedometer into hysterics: 80 miles an hour becomes 95 becomes a screaming 110, or exactly double the speed limit on this particular stretch of Houston highway. It is pouring rain. Farther up in Scott’s lane, where traffic is thicker, a Land Rover brakes, but Scott — left hand on the wheel, right hand on his phone, eyes on a maps app — does not. The Land Rover’s rear bumper is maybe 200 feet away, then 75 and then, sickeningly, 25. Scott has stopped accelerating but, for unclear reasons, he hasn’t touched the brake.

It is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Scott, 26, is in a great mood thanks to the first-ever Astroworld Festival — a celebration that this Houston native has fantasized about throwing ever since his career launched in earnest. He finally managed to pull it off yesterday, basically on top of the site of the city’s old Astroworld amusement park, which was shut down, to his dismay, in 2005, when he was 13. “When they took away Astroworld, they took away a piece of my heart,” he says. In tribute, he rented a Ferris wheel, a drop tower and a chair-o-planes, and he filled two stages with sets from some hitmaking friends (Young Thug, Post Malone), hometown legends he grew up worshipping (Bun B, Lil Flip), and younger stars whom he helped inspire (Sheck Wes, Smokepurpp). The festival was a hit; 40,000 people came, undeterred by ticket prices that started at $150 and got as high as $650 (plus a $104.26 fee). “The merch sold out too,” Scott says.