Travis Scott performs onstage at the Maxim Super Bowl Party. February 5, 2017.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Maxim
I liked Astroworld. On his new album, Travis Scott managed to converge his many influences, from hip-hop and beyond, into an occasionally effortless psychedelic record full of left turns. Unfortunately, one of these surprises has taken me out of the record entirely: a lyric on the song "Coffee Bean" which juxtaposes anti-black prejudice with poor sanitation habits. Read below:
Your family told you I'm a bad move
Plus I'm already a black dude
Leavin' the bathroom, my hands is half-rinsed
If only a nigga just had sense
I've puzzled over this all day. Asked co-workers for their interpretation, and searched the internet for any clues. The current annotation on Genius is, as these things can sometimes be, bizarre and hilariously off base. But what's killing me is I don't have a better idea.
Working off the assumption that he's not speaking literally, what could he mean? Is it a reference to some Houston thing? A civil rights lesson I missed? But on the other (properly washed) hand, what if he means exactly what he's saying? Perhaps his baby mother Kylie Jenner has taken issue with him not properly washing his hands after using the restroom, and he's speaking to her directly. Given how trepidatious Scott sounds about long-term commitment on the song, perhaps he's owning up to a quirk that vexes his partner and keeps them distant.
The water in my apartment has been cut off all day while a broken pipe gets fixed, so I'm more conscious than ever of the value of a soapy thirty second lather after a toilet trip. In fact, I'm going to see if my taps are working again right now. Straight up!
