“STOP TRYING TO BE GOD”: Travis Scott ft. Kid Cudi, James Blake, Philip Bailey, Stevie Wonder
Production: Travis Scott, J Beatzz, Mike Dean, Cubeatz
Album: Astroworld
"Is it the complex of the saint that's keepin' you so, so still?/ Is it a coat of old paint that's peelin' every day against our will?"
For STOP TRYING TO BE GOD, Travis taps Kid Cudi to hum, Philip Bailey (of Earth, Wind & Fire) and James Blake to provide vocals, and Stevie Wonder to deliver a ghostly harmonica line as Cactus Jack’s usual brand of hazy trap brews. Restraint is going out of fashion. Time and time again Travis has proved this. And when the results are this spectacular, who’s going to mourn?
The song’s enterprise is matched only by its visual counterpart. It features the Shepherd Scott, Travis the Baptist, lasers, and a flying/fire-breathing bull. Blasphemous, but heresy is essential to growth and progress. The enduring final image is of Kylie Jenner (as the Madonna) cradling the avatar lamb of Jesus, who begins chiding us, in autotune. Delusions of grandeur aren’t delusions if you can realise them.