After killing his earlier performance of “Skeletons” with Tame Impala before the break, Travis Scott returned to the stage for a DJ Screw-homaging live set of “Sicko Mode,” the Drake-featuring song from Astroworld that has taken over social media and streaming playlists since its release. Using the smoke machine and some holographic machine to innovative use, projecting an image the late DJ Screw over the stage, Travis appeared sitting atop an arcade cabinet to perform the Astroworld standout and take a page from mentor Kanye to blast a few sound effects from a portable midi controller before giving a typically energetic performance of the back end of the song in front of the smoky backdrop
Travis’ appearance on SNL tonight caps a strong run of 2018 — if he actually is done for the year. While his album Astroworld is still going strong on the charts, if his mentor Kanye West can cram multiple projects into the year with all of his collaborators, then so can master curator, Travis Scott.
Of course, even if he doesn’t capitalize on a seemingly wide-open holiday season to drop off another project, he’s done pretty well for himself anyway. Besides the aforementioned success of Astroworld and its singles — particularly “Sicko Mode” with Drake — Travis has had a pretty big year. He became a father, he unseated the Queen, Nicki Minaj, on the Billboard charts, he appeared on practically every other rapper’s albums, and his own Cactus Jack saw the arrival of Sheck Wes‘ Mudboy and the debut of Don Toliver’s Donny Womack. He even performed at LeBron James’ anniversary party. Not many can say they’ve done all that and killed it on SNL. It looks like Travis is laughing all the way to the bank.
