This weekend has been flooded with new music releases. Early Friday morning, YG, Mac Miller, H.E.R., Baka Not Nice and a number of other new artists gave us the gift of new music. While there was a lot to sift through this weekend, one album clearly had the attention of the world.
Travis Scott’s third album Astroworld, has been the talk of many music circles throughout the country and the world beyond. Complete with a Drake feature, references to his relationship with the Kardashians and Mike Dean production, there is something on the album for everybody. On pace to sell north of 300,000 copies during its first week, it’s clearly one of the biggest releases of the year. Above all else, it’s the release that will likely begin to cement Scott’s legacy within music for years to come. With all of that being said, there has been a dark cloud hovering over the release.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ASTROWORLD pic.twitter.com/npNZ53Fzzn
— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 4, 2018
Shortly before the release of the album, Scott released the cover art for the album. While most focused on the interesting nature of the album cover, a few who worked on the cover art noticed that something was missing. Online artist, David LaChapelle, noted that model, Amanda Lepore, was removed from the original cover art. Prior to the release, Scott kept quiet about the situation, but has since decided to address the issue. Scott’s camp claims they never received a version of the cover with Lepore on it. In a statement posted on Twitter over the weekend, Scott wrote, “ASTROWORLD IS ABOUT LOVE AND EXPRESSION NOT HATE! This is very important for me to speak up about: Growing up I’ve been taught to accept everyone, not to cast people away, but bring them in your home! I have nothing but respect for the LGBTQ community. I want to use my voice to make it clear that everyone on this planet is as equal and f*cking awesome to the next.” Scott also thanked LaChapelle and Lepore for their work on the cover.
