To many fans’ surprise and enjoyment, Travis Scott announced on the 10th anniversary of his second mixtape, Days Before Rodeo, that the project would officially be released on streaming services for the first time ever. Scheduled for August 23, 2024, we naturally had to revisit the mixtape and share our thoughts.
On Days Before Rodeo, released August 18th, 2014, Scott gave a preview of what was to come later that year with his debut album, Rodeo. He also showcased the growth in his musicality since his first mixtape, Owl Pharaoh, was released in 2013.
Breaking down the project back in 2014, Scott said he was initially surprised how people immediately saw his vision and liked the new songs.
“I’m kind of surprised. I thought it was gonna take a little minute for people to probably fuck with it. But I always thought the album was ill,” Scott said. He also discussed the thumbs up he got from Ye, who previously talked him out of releasing the tape along with DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz series and instead releasing it solo.
“Like, the day I dropped it and he tweeted it. I was like, ‘Oh, shit! And he ain’t even text me or nothing. And then I went to go meet up with him later, and he’s like, ‘Oh, man, this is ill as fuck. One of the illest albums,'” Scott said.
Like any of Scott’s releases, his fierce fanbase has thoroughly listened to every song on the album and shared their thoughts online. For the real ride-or-die supporters, each of Scott’s six projects in his discography is seen as more precious than the infinity stones in Thanos’ glove.
“One of the best mixtapes of all time. It may not be as musically evolutionary as Rodeo or Astroworld, but every song on here is still it’s own fun experience and there’s no filler. Production is fantastic as always and Travis’ performance is grandiose. A mixtape full of earworms,” Album of the Year user dzrey said in their review of the project.
Today, Scott’s vocals and sound are more refined, but some fans can hear the kinks that still needed to be worked out on the mixtape.
“Days Before Rodeo sounds like something that could be good if Travis make this today, but it’s easy to say this is an outdated mixtape in terms of solid performance. I like a lot of production choices on this album with some beats going extremely hard. Sadly Travi$ Scott can’t give the same type of energy with his really bad vocals. Also, features don’t work for me, no one on this album truly stands out and every artist is carried by a beat,” user nino21321312312 said in their Album of the Year review of the project.
While considering fan opinions, we ranked the mixtape’s songs from worst to best to celebrate its 10th anniversary and re-release.
12. “Basement Freestyle”
The song takes the bottom spot on our Days Before Rodeo rankings. Produced by Lex Luger and Metro Boomin, Scott talks about always backing up what he says through his work and becoming a Houston legend.
Compared to the other classics on the project, the song just doesn’t hold up. “Cuz it’s just solid, it’s hard to compete as just a solid song with the amount of classics and bangers in his discography,” Reddit user Reddit user l8te2dapartee said in a 2024 post.
11. “BACC”
As the final track on the album, Scott hints that he’ll be “bacc” and his best is yet to come, with Rodeo dropping less than a month after the current project. With Ye references throughout (like the lyrics “With a devil in a new dress on the 35th floor, nigga, God damn, that’s a hell of a sight”) and production from Metro Boomin, fans on Reddit have theorized that it was made in 2013 when Scott and Metro first met.
It’s one of the songs from the mixtape that has mixed reviews, and its merit is commonly debated among fans. Nevertheless, fans voted it Scott’s worst song starting with the letter B in 2023.
10. “Days Before The Rodeo: The Prayer”
On the official intro for the album, Scott offers an official blessing on what’s to come over some church organs. The track was produced by Wondagurl, who has previously done songs like “Fair Trade” by Drake.
“You know how sometimes the beat will cut off in the middle of the song sometimes because the rapper has something really dope to say? Yeah, his flow just falls to pieces during those parts. Even if his flow stayed intact, he really wasn’t sayin’ nothin’ anyway,” the publication Focus Hip Hop said in 2015.
9. “Backyard”
Scott, on the song, spits game and flexes about all the accomplishments that he’s had so far in his career. Despite the controversy over Logic using an almost identical loop on his 2015 song “Stainless” (they both sampled the 1973 Marvin Gaye song “Distant Lover), hip-hop heads still prefer Scott’s interpretation of the sample—but not everyone was feeling the song.
“’Backyard’ has a great instrumental with its epic horn layers, but if only this weren’t completely ruined by Travis trying to harmonize with himself on the hook, which sounds horrendous,” a Album of the Year reviewer said in a 2024 post.
8. “Grey”
According to Genius, the song was written about “DeAndre ‘Dre’ Harrison, the older brother of former St. John’s University basketball star D’Angelo Harrison. Dre was Travis’ friend growing up in Missouri City, TX and may have had a very bright future in basketball, like his brother did, but ultimately made a series of poor life choices and wound up in prison.”
Like the song’s topic, the reviews from fans are just as bleak.
“I thought this song would sound amazing high due to the instrumental and vibe. The instrumental stops for the second verse so it’s just his voice. This makes you listen to what he’s saying but I thought it was somewhat of a lackluster ending and I wish it was the chilled instrumental,” the publication New to Hip Hip said back in 2019.
7. “Sloppy Toppy”
The song samples Edna Wright’s 1976 seductive track “Spend The Night With Me.” Joined by the Migos and Peewee Longway, the group talks about their late-night escapades with women over a beat from FKi (who has done beats for 2 Chainz and the Migos as well).
However, some fans wished that there was more of Trav on the song rather than the features he brought in. “It’s practically a migos song. Not saying it’s bad but I’d rather listen to a song that has more Travis,” Reddit user Vegetable-Return-374 said in a 2023 post.
6. “Zombies”
The song, with its spooky vibes, could probably work at your next Halloween kickback. Scott, on the Lex Luger beat, spits about the newer generation coming together to create their own rules and music.
Despite the fan love, the song has not been played live before during one of Scott’s tours. “It has a sing along hook that would go NUTS live I can’t believe trav didn’t think it was worth even trying live once,” Reddit user Auba14170 said in a 2024 post.
5. “Don’t Play”
This was the first single released off of the project, featuring Big Sean and The 1975. The song samples both the band’s 2013 song “M.O.N.E.Y.” and Curtis Mayfield’s 1970 song “If There’s Hell Below.”
“This is fire. Although The 1975 part in the beginning seems a bit out of place I still love the experimentation. Sean comes in with a good verse as well to wrap it up. Travi$ is shaping up to be a great new artist,” a Reddit user said way back in 2014.
4. “Quintana Pt. 2”
The sequel to Scott’s song with Wale, T.I. (who is uncredited) hopped on the second part of “Quintana.” While many don’t prefer T.I.’s verse over the original, it still is seen as an overall fan favorite.
”Between the crazy beat, hype ass first chorus and beat change, and then the equally spectacular DYSTI esque outro its an amazing song,” A Reddit user said in 2019.
3. “Mamacita”
Scott is letting everyone know that his girl is off limits on the track with Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug. The song samples Bobby Bland’s 1973 love song (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right.”
“Personally for me, this old style raw travis is his best era, and rich homie quan really helped travis navigate his flow and hook,” A Reddit user said in 2020.
2. “Skyfall”
With a feature from Young Thug and co-production from Metro Boomin, the song was GOATED from the jump. Despite many fans thinking its a song about getting high, Scott stated that its actually about older artists losing the connection they have to the younger generations of new listeners.
Reddit user LaaFlameee said in a 2018 post that “the beat, the lyrics and the slow but hard vibe it gives just gives me chills everytime I listen to it.”
1. “Drugs You Should Try It”
The fourth song on the album, Scott was inspired by one of his favorite songs, Justin Bieber’s “All That Matters.” The laid-back beat and lyrics about falling in love have put the song in the number one spot for fans.
“Travis[‘s] most beautiful performance to date and emotionally grappling songs he has ever [made]…I think this song has healed me in many ways and is near perfection,” user purpleauras said on the site Album of the Year.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Days Before Rodeo was a necessary step in Scott’s creative process that led to projects like ASTROWORLD. He got into his sampling bag by using hits from the past like Marvin Gaye’s “Distant Lover.” He got features from other big names in the game like Young Thug that he continued to create with in the future.
While his sonic experimentation in the mixtape wasn’t for everyone—it provided the foundation for what was to come, showing the barebones of his strength in production, sample and feature selection, and ab libs (you can’t say “It’s lit!” without thinking of Scott).
Days Before Rodeo has its mix of timeless songs you want to run back years later and outdated songs you immediately want to skip—but overall, the tape is seen as a classic in Scott’s portfolio.