Travis Scott has dusted off a decade-old Kanye West beat on his new album Utopia, and it’s technically a leftover from the Yeezus era.
Early on in his career, La Flame was part of the eclectic production team behind Ye’s 2013 LP Yeezus, lending his sonic touch to tracks like “New Slaves,” “Guilt Trip” and “I Am a God.”
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Now, the Houston native has repurposed an earlier version of the “I Am a God” beat for “Modern Jam,” track number three off his long-awaited new project. Travis’ version features Teezo Touchdown and was produced by himself, Mike Dean, Jahaan Sweet and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.
As fans flocked to streaming services to hear Utopia on Friday (July 28), the similarities between the two songs didn’t go unnoticed, with one social media user posting a side-by-side comparison of the tracks.
While he isn’t a part of the star-studded supporting cast, Kanye West does have numerous production and songwriting credits on Utopia, including on “Thank God,” “God’s Country” and “Telekinesis.”
He also gets a shoutout from Travis Scott on the Young Thug-assisted “Skitzo,” on which his former G.O.O.D. Music signee reaffirms his loyalty and backs his upcoming presidential bid.
“Crazy how they love to talk shit and got no Trident/ I’m loyal, bitch, I got Ye over Biden,” he raps.
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In a 2015 interview with Billboard, Scott spoke about his love for Yeezus and described Ye as his “stepdad.”
“I’m glad that n-gga finally broke the code with Yeezus to make God-level music which is ill as fuck, bro,” he said. “It’s super raunchy. He’s like my stepdad. We always had that relationship where we cook up ideas. We [talk] all the time about random shit: life and how we can do better as people and as rock stars. Our goal is to help people figure out who they want to be.”
Travis Scott remains one of Kanye West’s few allies following his antisemitic comments last year.
Longtime collaborator Pusha Tstepped down as the president of G.O.O.D. Music and was straight to the point in condemning Kanye’s “disappointing” remarks.
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“It’s definitely affected me,” he told The Los Angeles Times in November. “It’s been disappointing. As a Black man in America, there is no room for bigotry or hate speech. So yeah. It’s been very disappointing, let’s talk straight.”
Meanwhile, major companies such as adidas, Balenciaga and Creative Arts Agency all cut ties with Kanye, who subsequently saw his billion-dollar net worth plummet.
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Utopia serves as Travis Scott’s first solo album since 2018’s Astroworld and includes appearances from Drake, Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Future, Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, SZA, Kid Cudi and many others.
Stream the album in full below.
