Jacques Bermon Webster II (born April 30, 1991), known professionally as Travis Scott (formerly stylized Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, Scott has achieved four number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, along with 80 total charted songs. Scott has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards and won a Billboard Music Award, Latin Grammy Award, MTV Video Music Award, and multiple BET Hip Hop Awards. As of 2020, Scott has sold over 45 million certified records in the US alone. Scott's musical style has been described as a "blend between traditional hip-hop and lo-fi" and often characterized as "ambient," with a heavily appraised influence from rappers Kanye West and Kid Cudi. His stage name is derived from the latter's real name, Scott Mescudi, combined with the name of a favorite uncle.

In 2012, Scott signed his first major-label recording contract with Epic Records, and a publishing deal with Kanye West's GOOD Music as an in-house producer. In April 2013, he entered a joint-venture record deal with American rapper T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records. Scott self-released his first full-length project, a mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh, in 2013, which was followed with a mixtape titled Days Before Rodeo, in 2014. His debut studio album, Rodeo (2015) was released to critical praise and moderate commercial success. The album preceded by the singles "3500" (featuring Future and 2 Chainz) and "Antidote"; the latter of which became his first hit song, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. His second album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016), became his first number-one album on the Billboard 200 chart. The following year, Scott released a collaborative album with rapper Quavo, titled Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, under the group name Huncho Jack.

In 2018, his third album, Astroworld, was released to critical acclaim and also reached the top spot of the Billboard 200. Additionally, the album produced his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "Sicko Mode" (featuring Drake). In late 2019, Scott's vanity label imprint, Cactus Jack Records, released the compilation album JackBoys, which also topped the Billboard 200. After the release of his single "Franchise" (featuring Young Thug and M.I.A.) in 2020, Scott became the first artist on the Hot 100 to have three songs debut at number one in less than a year. Five years after the release of his third album, Scott released his highly anticipated follow-up Utopia, becoming his fourth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200.

Over the course of his career, Scott has become a globally recognized artist and pop culture figure. Along with his highly publicized relationship with American media personality Kylie Jenner, Scott has collaborated with organizations including Nike, Dior, and McDonald's. In 2017, he founded the record label Cactus Jack Records. Scott has also gained notoriety for controversies and legal issues regarding safety at his concerts. In November 2021, a mass-casualty crowd crush occurred during Scott's performance at the Astroworld Festival in his hometown of Houston, Texas, resulting in some condemnation of the artist.

Early life
Jacques Bermon Webster II was born on April 30, 1991, in Houston, Texas. From ages one through six, Webster lived with his grandmother in South Park, Houston. Located in south-central Houston, the neighborhood was notorious for crime and had an impact on a young Webster, "Growing up, my grandmother stayed in the 'hood so I seen random crazy shit. [I saw] mad bums and crazy spazzed out motherfuckers, I saw people looking weird, hungry, and grimey. I was always like, 'I gotta get the fuck out this shit.' It gave me my edge—[it made me] who I am right now."

Webster moved to Missouri City, a middle-class suburban area bordering southwest Houston, to live with his parents. His mother worked for Apple and his father ran his own business. Webster's father is also a soul musician and his grandfather was a jazz composer. Webster attended Elkins High School and graduated at seventeen. During high school, he participated in musical theater. Webster then attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, before dropping out his second year to fully pursue his music career.

During an interview, Webster revealed how he chose his moniker, stating it's a combination of his favorite uncle named Travis, and the first name of one of his biggest inspirations, Kid Cudi (whose real name is Scott Mescudi).

Career

2008–2012: Career beginnings and record deals
Webster formed a duo with his longtime friend Chris Holloway known as The Graduates. In 2008, the duo released their untitled first EP on social networking website Myspace.

The following year, Scott and OG Chess, one of Scott's schoolmates, formed the group The Classmates. The Classmates released two projects, with Buddy Rich in 2009 and Cruis'n USA in 2010. Scott mainly handled production work on both projects. The duo remained together until late 2012, when personal conflicts and financial disputes led to the disbandment of the group.

After leaving college, Scott moved from Houston to Washington Heights in New York City where Scott began working with friend Mike Waxx, who owned the music website Illroots. After moving to New York, Scott slept on the floor at his friend's house and spent most of his time at Just Blaze's studio. Eventually frustrated in New York and the lack of progression, Scott moved to Los Angeles, California, after only four months in the state.

In Los Angeles, Webster was abandoned by his friend who had promised to help him by providing housing. His parents cut him off financially and he eventually was forced to relocate back to Houston, where his parents kicked him out of their home. Webster moved back to Los Angeles once again and began to sleep on the couch of a friend who studied at University of Southern California. Atlanta-based rapper and owner of Grand Hustle Records, T.I. would later hear one of Webster's productions, titled "Lights (Love Sick)". While in Los Angeles, T.I.'s representative contacted Webster, asking him to attend a studio for a meeting. During the meeting, T.I. freestyled over "Animal", one of Webster's productions.

2012–2014: Owl Pharaoh and Days Before Rodeo

Scott's First solo full-length project is a mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh, which was set to be released as a free download in 2012. However, the project was delayed, and was announced to be slated for a later release. The project was later re-created by Kanye West and Mike Dean, and was then again delayed for sample clearance issues. In promotion Scott would release the track, "Blocka La Flame", a remix of fellow GOOD Music label-mate Pusha T's single "Blocka" (which features production and vocals from Scott). The song was produced by Young Chop, with additional production by Scott himself, alongside Mike Dean. On March 22, 2013, Scott released the music video for a song titled "Quintana", set to appear on Owl Pharaoh. On March 27, XXL revealed that Scott was a member of their Freshman Class of 2013. Later on March 29, 2013, following his interview with British disc jockey, DJ Semtex, Scott premiered a snippet of his commercial debut single, titled "Upper Echelon", featuring 2 Chainz and T.I. On April 2, 2013, Scott stated Owl Pharaoh was his official debut mixtape and would be released on the iTunes Store on May 21, 2013. On April 23, 2013, "Upper Echelon" was sent to urban contemporary radio.

On March 13, 2014, Scott performed a new song, tentatively titled "1975" featuring Big Sean, from his upcoming project at the time, at the Texan music festival South by Southwest (SXSW). Scott later confirmed via his Twitter account that the song is not called "1975", and would be included on his second mixtape, titled Days Before Rodeo. He would later take to his Twitter account to announce Rodeo, as the official title for his major-label debut studio album. On May 5, 2014, Scott released the full version of the song, with its new title "Don't Play", featuring a sample of the song "M.O.N.E.Y" by the English rock band the 1975. On July 11, 2014, "Don't Play" was officially released as the lead single from Days Before Rodeo, via digital distribution.

Following the success of Days Before Rodeo, Scott announced that he would headline a concert tour, called The Rodeo Tour, with rapper Young Thug and producer Metro Boomin. The tour started on March 1, 2015, in Santa Ana, California, and ended on April 1, 2015, in Portland, Oregon. The tour ran through major cities and artists such as Kanye West, Chris Brown, Wale and Birdman made special guest appearances in certain cities.

2015–2016: Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight

Rodeo was released on September 4, 2015, by Grand Hustle and Epic Records. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Juicy J, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Swae Lee, Chief Keef, Justin Bieber, Young Thug and Toro y Moi, and includes production from Mike Dean, Kanye West, WondaGurl, Suber, DJ Dahi, Metro Boomin, 1500 or Nothin', Sonny Digital, Southside, Terrace Martin, Zaytoven, Pharrell Williams and Scott himself, among others. The album was supported by two singles: "3500" featuring Future and 2 Chainz, and "Antidote". The latter became his highest-charting single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 16. Rodeo received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Rap Albums chart.

On January 4, 2016, Scott announced that he has a new studio album on the way. On March 29, 2016, 300 Entertainment executive Lyor Cohen, revealed that Scott and Young Thug were releasing a single together and called Scott's upcoming album a "classic". On April 7, 2016, Scott previewed a single with Young Thug at one of his shows. On May 17, 2016, Scott announced that the title of his second album would be Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, while also confirming the title for his third album to be Astroworld. On June 3, 2016, the collaborative single between Thug and Scott was released, titled "Pick Up the Phone". The single, which also features vocals from Quavo of Atlanta-based rap trio Migos, reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

On August 31, 2016, Scott announced that Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight was finally finished in a post on Instagram. Scott premiered the album on his third episode of .wav radio on September 2, 2016, and was later released on iTunes and Apple Music. On September 11, 2016, the album became Scott's first number one album on the US Billboard 200. On September 12, 2016, Universal Music Publishing Group's CEO, Jody Gerson announced that the label signed a worldwide deal with Scott.

In the same episode Scott premiered Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, he also announced that he would be executive producing on Kanye West's Cruel Winter, a follow-up to his G.O.O.D. Music label's debut compilation Cruel Summer. In the episode he described the upcoming album as, "very youthful, straight to the point, like the illest ever, man, like the illest album".

2017–2018: Cactus Jack Records, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, and Astroworld

Scott performed at All-Star Weekend on February 16, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana at Champion Square. He also performed at New Orleans BUKU Music + Art Project festival on March 10, 2017. On March 5, Scott announced a concert tour called "Birds Eye View". The next day, the dates and cities for the tour were unveiled, with it beginning on March 10, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and coming to an end on June 2, in Eugene, Oregon. In the same month, Scott was also featured alongside American rapper Quavo from the hip-hop group Migos on Canadian rapper Drake's single "Portland", from Drake's commercial mixtape, More Life. The song peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first top ten song as a featured artist. In March 2017, Scott announced he would be launching his own imprint, under the name of Cactus Jack Records.

On April 3, 2017, it was reported Scott had been working on a collaborative studio album with Quavo, potentially to be released later in 2017. Speaking to GQ, he confirmed: 'The Quavo album is coming soon. I'm dropping new music soon. You know how I do it though: I like surprises. In addition to the collaborative album, Scott announced his third studio album Astroworld, named after the defunct Houston theme park of the same name, was nearing completion and would most likely be released in 2017.

On May 16, 2017, Scott released three new tracks on SoundCloud, after teasing on social media for some time. The tracks were named "A Man", "Green & Purple (featuring Playboi Carti)", and "Butterfly Effect". The latter was also released on every other streaming service, as the only track. On June 15, 2017, Scott announced he would be doing a European leg of the "Birds Eye View Tour". The European leg started on the June 23 in Paris, and concluded on July 9 in Turku, Finland. This leg was mainly festival sets or in smaller club settings. The music video for "Butterfly Effect" was released on July 14, 2017. On August 10, 2017, Scott tweeted "ALBUM MODE" as he had just finished the "DAMN. Tour" as a supporting act for Kendrick Lamar, the night before. This tweet signified that he was now working on his album AstroWorld full-time. On August 27, 2017, Scott performed with Thirty Seconds to Mars at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards on their single "Walk On Water".

On September 18, 2017, Quavo and Migos did an interview, in which Quavo stated that his album with Scott was coming "real soon". He also stated that he and Scott had over 20 records ready. In October 2017, Scott was featured in a special piece titled "Deserve", by Chinese born Canadian rapper Kris Wu. On December 7, 2017, a clip of Quavo being interviewed by Zane Lowe was posted on the official Twitter account for Beats 1. When asked about the title of their upcoming project, he confirmed it would be Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.

On December 6, 2017, Scott was featured on fellow American rapper and singer Trippie Redd's single "Dark Knight Dummo", the lead single from the latter's debut studio album, Life's a Trip. The song peaked at 72 on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 21, 2017, Scott and Quavo released their collaborative studio album, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, under the name "Huncho Jack", a name which comes from Quavo's nickname "Huncho" and a play on Scott's first name "Jack". The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and had seven tracks chart on the Billboard Hot 100. After the release of Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, Webster was spotted in the studio a lot more frequently and Billboard slated an expected first quarter release for AstroWorld.

On May 4, 2018, four days after his 27th birthday, Scott released a single titled "Watch" featuring American rappers Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West. The single was released as promotional material for his third studio album Astroworld. Astroworld was released on August 3, 2018, to critical acclaim, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. "Sicko Mode", the album's second single, peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Scott's highest charting solo single. On the same month of the album's launch, Scott announced that he was going to launch Astroworld Festival, a music festival with the same name as the album. The festival took place on November 17. On November 2, 2018, Scott was featured on five tracks of Metro Boomin's debut studio album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes: "Overdue", "Dreamcatcher" (alongside Swae Lee), "Up to Something" (alongside Young Thug), "Only 1 (Interlude)", and "No More" (alongside Kodak Black and 21 Savage). In December, Billboard reported that Scott was to make a guest appearance at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show during Maroon 5's set.

2019–2020: Look Mom I Can Fly, JackBoys, and The Scotts

On April 18, 2019, Scott released a single with SZA and The Weeknd for the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. It is titled "Power is Power" and is a reference to a scene that took place in the first episode of the show's second season The track is the second song on the Game of Thrones soundtrack album entitled For the Throne. On May 23, 2019, Scott was featured alongside J. Cole on Young Thug's single, "The London", which later appeared as the lead single on Thug's debut studio album, So Much Fun. On August 28, 2019, Scott's documentary film, Look Mom I Can Fly, was released on Netflix. On October 4, 2019, Scott released a single, "Highest in the Room", which debuted and peaked at number one on the Hot 100, being his first song to debut at the top and his second number one following "Sicko Mode" in 2018. The same month, Scott was also featured on the remix of Young Thug's single, "Hot" with Gunna, who was featured on the original song as well. The song was later added to the deluxe edition of So Much Fun in December of that year. Scott also was featured on the track "Hop Off a Jet" from the deluxe edition.

On December 2, 2019, Scott announced a compilation album with his Cactus Jack label members, consisting of Don Toliver, Sheck Wes and producer Chase B, titled JackBoys. On December 24, Scott revealed the album's release date via Instagram. The album was released on December 27, 2019, and featured a remix of "Highest in the Room" featuring Spanish singer Rosalía and American rapper Lil Baby, the latter's verse being leaked months prior. On the same day, Scott released the music video for "Gang Gang" performed by Wes, with uncredited vocals and cameo appearances from Scott, Toliver, and rapper Luxury Tax 50. On December 30, 2019, Scott released the music video for "Gatti", featuring Pop Smoke. On March 20, 2020, Scott released the music video for "Out West", featuring Young Thug.

Scott performed five virtual live shows in the video game Fortnite Battle Royale from April 23 to 25, 2020 with visuals based on his Astroworld tour. It received more than 27 million viewers and boosted the sales of Fortnite-branded Cactus Jack products such as action figures. The performance also included the premiere of his new song with Kid Cudi, who released the song, "The Scotts", as a duo under the same name. Tying with the performance, numerous cosmetic items for player avatars based on Scott and the concert were available to purchase by players of Fortnite Battle Royale. The song debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Scott's third US number-one. In May he collaborated for a second time with Rosalía on her track "TKN", where he raps in Spanish for the first time. Scott was on the cover of GQs September 2020 issue, and revealed he will be releasing a collaborative album with Kid Cudi. This follows their number-one single, "The Scotts", released earlier in May.

On the second anniversary of his third studio album Astroworld, Scott teased he was working on a new project. On August 22, 2020, Scott released the single "The Plan", the theme song to Christopher Nolan's film Tenet. He released the single "Franchise" featuring rappers Young Thug and M.I.A. on September 25, 2020. The song was previously previewed on Scott and Chase B's WAV radio, titled "White Tee". It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and Scott became the first artist in Billboard chart history to have three songs debut at number one in less than a year. A remix with an additional feature from American rapper Future, was released on October 7, 2020.

2021–present: Return to performing and Utopia

From mid to late-2020, Scott began teasing his fourth studio album Utopia. On January 15, 2021, Scott released a remix of "Goosebumps" with producer HVME. After canceling the third annual Astroworld Fest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott announced the return of the festival in 2021 and expanded it to a multi day format. On April 30, Scott was collaborated with Baby Keem on the song "Durag Activity" from his album The Melodic Blue. In June, Scott announced a collaboration between Dior and Cactus Jack for the 2022 Summer Men's collection. On August 28, Scott was featured on Kanye West's tenth studio album Donda on the song "Praise God" also with Baby Keem. On September 3, Scott appeared on Drake's Certified Lover Boy on the song "Fair Trade", which peaked in the top 10 of the Hot 100 at number three. On October 8, Don Toliver released an album Life of a Don, which featured Scott on songs titled "Flocky Flocky" and "You".

On October 30, 2021, Scott closed out day 3 of Rolling Loud NYC. During the set he performed the unreleased song "Escape Plan" and a preview of another unreleased track off Utopia. In November 2021, he announced new music to be released on November 5, 2021; he was believed to release a project reportedly titled Dystopia, but instead he released a two-song single "ESCAPE PLAN / MAFIA".

On April 22, 2022, Scott was featured on his first song since the Astroworld Festival crowd crush, "Hold That Heat" alongside Future and producer Southside. On April 27, 2022, the Primavera Sound festival announced that Scott is scheduled to perform at their festivals held in Buenos Aires, Santiago, and São Paulo respectively. On May 15, 2022, he performed at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. This performance was his first since the Astroworld Festival tragedy in 2021. On August 6, 2022, Scott performed his first solo show since the Astroworld Festival tragedy at The O2 Arena in London. That month, it was also announced that Scott would begin a Las Vegas nightclub residency titled "Road to Utopia" in September. On December 2, Scott appeared on Metro Boomin's second studio album Heroes & Villains in four tracks including "Raindrops (Insane)", "Trance" (alongside Young Thug), "Niagara Falls (Foot or 2)" (alongside 21 Savage), and "Lock on Me" (alongside Future), as well as background vocals on "Creepin'" (with The Weeknd and 21 Savage).

On March 19, 2023, Scott and DJ Calvin Harris performed at MDLBEAST in Jeddah, on the eve of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On July 21, 2023, Scott released the lead single to Utopia, "K-pop" with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. On July 28, Scott released Utopia consisting of 19 tracks and alongside his debut directal musical film Circus Maximus which he also wrote and starred in. Utopia featured KayCyy, Teezo Touchdown, Bon Iver, Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Sheck Wes, Beyoncé, Rob49, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Yung Lean, Young Thug, James Blake, Westside Gunn, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future, and SZA.

Other ventures

Cactus Jack Records

Cactus Jack Records is an American record label founded by Scott in 2017. It is distributed by Epic Records. The label also has its own publishing division Cactus Jack Publishing.

Currently, the label is home to Travis Scott, Chase B, Don Toliver, and Sheck Wes. Don Toliver is a fellow Houston artist who Travis signed to the label in 2018. Shortly before announcing the deal, Toliver dropped his first major label project, Donny Womack. But he is most well-known for his guest appearance on Travis' ASTROWORLD cut, "Can't Say". Chase B is Travis Scott's DJ, as well as an artist in his own right. Sheck Wes is arguably the most well-known of the Cactus Jack signees, aside from Travis. After picking up buzz early in his career, he signed to Scott's label. Wes dropped his debut album, Mudboy in 2018 and worked with Cactus Jack labelmates on ASTROWORLD, as well as Chase B's 2019 single, "MAYDAY", which also features Young Thug. Cactus Jack Records also represents producers Chase B and Wondagurl. Rapper SoFaygo signed to Cactus Jack Records in 2020. Later in 2021, Scott signed Malu Trevejo to Cactus Jack Records. Trevejo signed to Travis Scott's label in partnership with Atlantic Records.

During an interview regarding the label, Scott said;

Astroworld Festival

Following the release of Astroworld, Scott announced the Astroworld Festival, an annual festive concert that would take place across the street from the former site of Six Flags AstroWorld. The 2018 Astroworld Festival contained appearances from Post Malone, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Rae Sremmurd, Gunna, Houston All Stars, Sheck Wes, Metro Boomin, Trippie Redd, Smokepurpp, Virgil Abloh, and Tommy Genesis.

The 2019 festival contained appearances from Gucci Mane, Migos, Rosalía, Tay Keith, Pop Smoke, Young Thug, Young Dolph, Key Glock, Pharrell Williams, Sheck Wes, Marilyn Manson, DaBaby, Megan Thee Stallion, Don Toliver, Playboi Carti, and Houston All Stars.

The 2020 festival was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Fashion
Scott was introduced to the creative side of the fashion industry due to his personal stylish pairings of high-end fashion and streetwear. This caught the early attention of brands like Been Trill, Diamond Supply Co., and A Bathing Ape.  Travis's liking for camp designs made its way into his collaboration with Been Trill. It was a well-recognized label/DJ collective founded by Virgil Abloh, Matthew Williams, Heron Preston, and Justin Saunders.

In 2015, Scott's collaborated with A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and marked his first project with the popular streetwear brand. His collection with BAPE consists of three pieces: a shark hoodie, a long-sleeve tee, and a t-shirt. In addition, Scott added a touch of "La Flame" on the ape logo head to give it his signature appeal. Later in 2016, Diamond Supply Co., a California-based streetwear brand, collaborated with Scott to launch a clothing collection. The collection was designed by Scott. The Collab consisted of graphic tees, long-sleeve tees, hoodies, coach jackets, and dad hats. In 2017, The Houston Rockets officially announced a collaboration with Travis Scott for Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals vs. San Antonio on Thursday, May 11. All fans in attendance at Toyota Center received a t-shirt personally designed by Travis Scott, featuring the Rockets playoff slogan, "Run as One", in his handwriting, along with call outs to the artist.

On April 30, 2019, Scott announced a collaboration with Nike to release his Cactus Jack Air Jordan 1's in May that year. In 2020, Scott partnered with Evisu, a Japanese denim brand founded by Hidehiko Yamane in 1991. On June 24, 2021, Scott announced a collaboration with Dior for a menswear collection that is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2021. A live stream showcasing the collection was released on June 25. The live stream also showcased snippets of songs from his upcoming fourth studio album Utopia featuring a song with Westside Gunn and instrumentals from the album. In later 2022, Scott and Skepta, a British grime MC, rapper, and record producer, headlined an event hosted by Virgil Abloh Securities. The one-day music festival was held at the FPL Solar Amphitheater in Miami, Florida, US. The event took place to honor the late Virgil Abloh's legacy called Mirror Mirror. Since then, Scott has partnered both creatively and as the face of several clothing lines for luxury fashion houses like Helmut Lang and Saint Laurent.

Notable Sneaker collaborations
Scott's sneakers collections are listed below:

 Helmut Lang, launched in 2017
 Jordan Trunner LX, launched in 2017
 Nike Air Force 1, launched in 2017
 Air Jordan 4 "Cactus Jack", launched in 2018
 Air Jordan 4 "Purple Suede", launched in 2018
 Air Jordan 4 "Olive", launched in 2018
 Nike Air Force 1 "Sail," launched in 2018
 Air Jordan 1, launched in 2019
 Air Jordan 1 Low "Grammy", launched in 2019
 Air Jordan 33, launched in 2019
 Air Jordan 6, launched in 2019
 Air Jordan 1 Low, launched in 2019
 Nike Air Force 1, launched in 2019
 Nike SB Dunk Low, launched in 2020
 Nike Air Max 270 React ENG, launched in 2020
 Air Jordan 6 "British Khaki", launched in 2021
 Air Jordan 1 High OG, launched in 2021
 Nike Air Max 1, launched in 2022
 Nike Air Trainer 1, launched in 2022
 Air Jordan 1 Low "Reverse Mocha", launched in 2022
 Dior B713, launched in 2022

Fortnite Collaborations
In 2020, Scott and his Cactus Jack team collaborated with Epic Games to launch new merchandise inspired by the Fortnite game, including clothing, action figures, and Nerf guns. Scott and Epic Games also set records with the success of Scott's "Astronomical 'Fortnite'" event. Scott has also played a live concert within Fortnite which drew millions of views. The collaboration ended in 2021.

McDonald's

In September 2020, Scott collaborated with McDonald's to launch a limited edition meal that was introduced in participating McDonald's restaurants in North America, named "The Travis Scott" and a variation on their Quarter Pounder with Cheese. The partnership marked the first nationally distributed celebrity-endorsed McDonald's meal in the chain's history, and the first celebrity meal since 1992, when McDonald's launched a "McJordan" burger with Michael Jordan in the Chicago metropolitan area. Due to high demand, some McDonald's branches ran out of ingredients tied to the promotion, causing a break in the supply chain. Scott and McDonald's also launched a line of McDonald's and Cactus Jack–branded merchandise, including a number of clothing items, a rug, and a McNugget-shaped body pillow. This popularized the celebrity meal craze, which would later be done similarly by BTS and Saweetie. The idea was exported to Europe in the fall of 2021, with Spanish singer Aitana serving as the first European act to have its own McDonald's meal.

PlayStation
In October 2020, Scott announced he was joining the PlayStation team as a Strategic Creative Partner to promote the PlayStation 5 console. Together, they released special merchandise, which includes a previously unseen version of Nike Dunk Lows. They also uploaded a special unboxing video of the PlayStation 5 console to YouTube. The video features footage of Scott playing the console alongside fans, a piano performance by James Blake, and a tribute to Pop Smoke.

The Scotts
Aside from his solo musical career, Scott is also one-half of the alternative hip hop super-duo the Scotts, alongside his mentor and frequent collaborator, American musician Kid Cudi. They have currently been working on their debut collaborative effort since 2020, when the duo released the Billboard Hot 100 number one single, "The Scotts". In December 2022, Cudi revealed they were no longer working on the album, effectively announcing its cancellation. However in July 2023, Cudi stated the album "is [definitely] happening at some point."

Film industry
Scott made his theatrical debut in the 2021 film Gully as a movie store owner. He also contributed to the film's soundtrack but his song "Knife" was cut due to sampling issues, but was still featured briefly in the film. On August 2, 2021, Scott signed a movie production deal with A24. The same day he announced the completion of a draft for a film based on his upcoming fourth studio album Utopia.

Artistry

Influences

Scott has stated that Björk is "one of my biggest inspirations for why I do what I do". He is also influenced by Bon Iver, Kid Cudi, M.I.A., Kanye West, Toro y Moi, Tame Impala, T.I., and Thom Yorke.

Musical style
Scott makes heavy use of audio manipulation effects such as Auto-Tune, phasing, delays, and stereo-sculpted chorusing and harmony structures, predominantly influenced by producers Mike Dean and Alex Tumay. Scott's musical style has been characterized as "ambient"; Scott himself has said "I'm not hip-hop". Vulture described Scott's sound as "unremittingly dark, syncretic, hi-res, and above all unnatural". Scott's musical style has been described as being hip hop, Southern hip hop, trap, psychedelic, and pop rap. Spin magazine compared his debut mixtape Owl Pharaoh (2013) to fellow American rapper Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010).

Creative vision
In 2016, Harmony Korine, an American filmmaker, teamed with Scott and fellow American rapper Gucci Mane to release a collaborative music video for their collaboration "Last Time"; Korine made a cameo appearance in the short directed by David Helman.

In 2018, Scott has said that he is a fan of Broadway theatre and would like to do an album of show tune covers. He has said that he would like to write his own musical in the future.

In 2021, Scott starred in a cover story of i-D Magazine Issue 362 "Utopia in Dystopia" photographed by Spike Jonze. Scott graced two covers for the issue, including a limited-edition cover featuring original artwork by Jonze. Scott teamed up with i-D Magazine for a limited edition merch capsule release. Scott added his original signature artwork to the special edition issue of the magazine. His classic scrawled artwork also makes an appearance on the Travis Scott X i-D collaborative merch.

Scott has also collaborated with the photographer David LaChappelle. Scott's album Astroworld's cover art was reportedly shot by LaChappelle. The artwork featured a large golden replica of Scott's head.

Philanthropy

Cactus Jack Foundation
Scott established the Cactus Jack Foundation in November 2020 to assist Houston youth with education expenses and creative endeavors. In December 2021, the foundation gave out thousands of toys to the children of Houston. On May 17, 2022, Scott announced that he would give away $1 million in scholarships to 100 HBCU college students from the graduating class of 2022 through the Cactus Jack Foundation.

Project Heal
In 2022, Scott launched a multi-tier, long-term series of community-focused philanthropy and investment efforts called Project HEAL through his Cactus Jack Foundation. The philanthropic effort provided $5 million for community-based initiatives in Scott's home state of Texas. Project HEAL is a multi-tier initiative dedicated to addressing challenges facing today's youth, especially those from marginalized and at-risk communities.

Personal life
Scott began dating media personality and businesswoman Kylie Jenner in April 2017. In February 2018, Jenner gave birth to their daughter. Jenner appeared in the music video for "Stop Trying to Be God", from Scott's third studio album Astroworld. They broke up in September 2019, but quarantined together during the COVID-19 pandemic for the sake of their daughter and ended up rekindling their relationship. On September 7, 2021, after weeks of speculation, Jenner revealed that she and Scott were expecting their second child. Jenner gave birth to their son in February 2022.

Controversies and legal issues

Incidents at performances
Scott's performances have experienced a number of issues. At Lollapalooza in 2015, Scott was charged and arrested for disorderly conduct after inciting concertgoers to ignore security and rush the stage. That same year, at the Openair Festival in Switzerland, he encouraged fans to attack a man who took his shoe while he was crowd-surfing, by stopping the concert and repeatedly telling the crowd to "fuck him up", while also spitting on him.

In 2017, he was arrested for similar conduct to his Lollapalooza behavior after a performance in Northwest Arkansas. That same year, a fan sued Scott and the organizers of a 2017 concert at Terminal 5 in Manhattan after falling from a balcony and being dragged on stage, blaming the fall on a crowd surge. In 2019, three people were trampled and injured as a crowd rushed to enter the compound at Astroworld.

Astroworld Festival crowd crush

On November 5, 2021, at least ten people died and hundreds were injured in a crowd crush moving toward the stage during Scott's performance at the Astroworld Festival in NRG Park in his hometown of Houston, Texas. On the first night, a crowd crush occurred, resulting in the cancellation of the second night of the festival.  In video footage of the incident, Scott is seen continuing to perform despite chants from the crowd pleading for him to stop; observing at least one audience member had been hurt, then ordering security for a brief moment to "help, jump in real quick, keep going", only to continue with the rest of the show for the following hour; encouraging people to "get wild" and "crazy", despite an ambulance passing through the crowd that was pulling out lifeless bodies. Victims killed ranged from 9 to 27 years old.

Shortly after, a lawsuit was announced by the concertgoers. It was started by Kristian Paredes, who filed for $1,000,000 due to the injuries he received. On June 29, 2023, a Texas grand jury decided against indicting Scott. The grand jury declined to indict Scott in a criminal probe of the deadly 2021 crowd surge. The deaths had happened in November 2021 at Scott's Astroworld in Houston, when a surge in the crowd of 50,000 attendees caused a panic.

Nebula assault allegations
On March 1, 2023, Scott was performing at Nebula, a nightclub in New York City, alongside Don Toliver when a sound technician, identified only as Mark, asked Scott to lower the music as it was too loud for the venue's size. Scott reportedly responded by giving Mark the finger and punched him in the head, resulting in Mark needing medical attention and police being called to the scene around 3:25 a.m. Scott had reportedly been drinking alcohol and damaged $12,000 in the club's sound equipment before he left the premises. The New York City Police Department issued a warrant for Scott's arrest in relation to the incident on March 2, 2023. The matter was resolved with a settlement reached and the NYPD not pressing any charges.

Discography

Studio albums
 Rodeo (2015)
 Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016)
 Astroworld (2018)
 Utopia (2023)

Collaborative albums
 Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho (2017)

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Scott has nine nominations.

|-
||2017
|Purpose (as featured artist)
|Album of the Year
|
|-
|2018
|"Love Galore"  (with SZA)
|Best Rap/Sung Performance
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|2019
|rowspan="2"|"Sicko Mode" (with Drake, Swae Lee, and Big Hawk)
|Best Rap Performance
|
|-
|Best Rap Song
|
|-
|Astroworld
|Best Rap Album
|
|-
||2020
|"The London" (with Young Thug and J. Cole)
|Best Rap/Sung Performance
|
|-
||2021
|"Highest in the Room"
|Best Melodic Rap Performance
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2022
|Donda (as featured artist and songwriter)
|Album of the Year
|
|-

Latin Grammy Awards
The Latin Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Scott won one award from one nomination.

|-
|2020
|Best Short Form Music Video
||"TKN" (Rosalía featuring Travis Scott)
|

Tours
Headlining
Rodeo Tour (with Young Thug and Metro Boomin) (2015)
Birds Eye View Tour (2017)
Astroworld: Wish You Were Here Tour (with Trippie Redd, Sheck Wes and Gunna) (2018–2019)
 Astroworld Festival (also known as Astrofest) (2018-2019, 2021-2023)
Circus Maximus Tour (2023)

Supporting
Never Sober Tour (with Juicy J and Project Pat) (2015)
The Madness Fall Tour (with The Weeknd and Banks) (2015)
Anti World Tour (with Rihanna) (2016)
The Damn. Tour (with Kendrick Lamar and DRAM) (2017)

References

External links

 Travis Scott on Spotify

1991 births
Living people
21st-century African-American male singers
21st-century American rappers
African-American male rappers
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American record producers
Age controversies
Alternative hip hop musicians
American experimental musicians
American hip hop singers
American hip hop record producers
Astroworld Festival crowd crush
Epic Records artists
GOOD Music artists
Grand Hustle Records artists
Kardashian family
Latin Grammy Award winners
MTV Video Music Award winners
People from Missouri City, Texas
Pop rappers
Psychedelic rap musicians
Psychedelic rock musicians
Rappers from Houston
Record producers from Texas
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Southern hip hop musicians
Spokespersons
Trap musicians
University of Texas at San Antonio alumni

Travis Scott


Chen Yun (, pronounced ; 13 June 1905 – 10 April 1995) was a Chinese revolutionary leader who was one of the most influential leaders of the People's Republic of China during the 1980s and 1990s and one of the major architects and important policy makers for the reform and opening up period, alongside Deng Xiaoping. He was also known as Liao Chenyun (), as he took his uncle's (Liao Wenguang; ) family name when he was adopted by him after his parents died.

A major Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political figure before the establishment of the PRC, Chen first joined the CCP Central Committee in 1931, and the Politburo in 1934. He became the head of the CCP's Organization Department in 1937, and became one of CCP leader Mao Zedong's close advisors. He played an important role in the Yan'an Rectification Movement of 1942, and started becoming responsible for economic affairs that year, ultimately heading the Central Finance and Economic Commission from 1949.

After the establishment of the PRC, Chen was a key figure in moderating many of Mao's radical economic ideas. Chen was instrumental in China's economic reconstruction following the disastrous Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) along with Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai, advocating for a "bird cage" economy in which the market economy should be allowed to play a role but kept contained like a "bird in a cage". Chen was demoted during the Cultural Revolution though he returned to power after Mao's death in 1976.

After Deng Xiaoping's rehabiliation, Chen voiced his criticism of Maoist policies, decrying China's lack of economic policies, and later became one of the architects of Deng's reform and opening up policy. During the 1980s and the 1990s, Chen was regarded as the second-most powerful person in China after Deng and was later recognized as one of the Eight Elders of the Chinese Communist Party. Initially a strong advocate for economic reforms, Chen increasingly became conservative towards the reforms as they progressed, becoming a key figure in slowing many reforms and becoming the leader of CCP's conservative factions. Chen resigned from the Central Committee in 1987 though kept his influence as the chairman of the Central Advisory Committee until 1992, when he fully retired from politics.

Early life
Chen was born in Qingpu, Jiangsu (now part of Shanghai) in 1905. Chen was typesetter for the famous Commercial Press of Shanghai, which printed revolutionary books and even Protestant Bibles. He played a prominent role as a younger organizer in the labor movement during the early and mid-1920s, joining the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924. Following the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925, Chen was an important organizer under Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi. For a time, Zhou and Yun resided at a Church of Christ in Changting which was the site of a revolutionary committee. After Chiang Kai-shek turned against the CCP in 1927, Chen fled to his hometown, but soon returned to Shanghai and secretly continued his work as a labor unionist.

Chen was one of the few Communist Party organizers from an urban working-class background; he worked underground as a union organizer in the late 1920s, participated in the Long March, and served on the Central Committee from 1931 to 1987. He was active throughout his career in the field of economics, despite receiving no formal education after elementary school.

Early Communist Party career
He served on the Central Committee in the Third Plenary Session of 6th Central Committee of CCP in 1930 and became a member of the Politburo in 1934.  In 1933 he evacuated to Ruijin, in Jiangxi province, the headquarters of the CCP's main "soviet" area. He was in overall charge of the Party's "white areas" work, that is, underground activities in places not under Party control. On the Long March he was one of the four Standing Committee members of the Political Bureau who attended the January 1935 Zunyi Conference. He left the Long March sometime in the spring of 1935, returning to Shanghai, and in September 1935 he went to Moscow, serving as one of the CCP's representatives to the Comintern sent by the Fifth Plenum Politburo, although he did not take part in the work of the delegation because he was sent to the Stalingrad Tractor Factory as a punishment for his participation in the Luo Zhanglong faction.

In 1937 Chen returned to China as an adviser to the Xinjiang leader Sheng Shicai. Chen later joined Mao in Yan'an, probably before the end of 1937. In November 1937 he became director of the Party's Organization Department, serving in that capacity until 1944, and by the early 1940s was in the inner circle of Mao's advisers. His writings on organization, ideology, and cadre training were included in the important study materials for the Yan'an Rectification Movement of 1942, a campaign of political persecutions which consolidated Mao's power within the Party. During this time, it is known that he protected some comrades accused of being Trotskyites, and criticized the exaggerations of the campaign in the Shandong base area.

Chen's economic career began in 1942, when he was replaced by Ren Bishi as head of the CCP Organization Department. In his new position, Chen was assigned responsibility for the financial management of Northwest China. Two years later, he was identified as responsible for finance in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region as well. He added Northeast China to his portfolio in 1946 (then under the overall leadership of General Lin Biao and Political Commissar Peng Zhen).

During the middle of the 1940s, Chen was a major contributor to the party's strategy of "economic warfare." Under this concept, reviving the economy in liberated areas was a major contribution to the revolutionary struggle. Chen argued that economic development and production were critical, explaining that "[o]nly if we can solve the problem of food and clothing for the masses can we become leaders of the masses. Thus, a revolutionary businessman is an outright revolutionary."

A main challenge for the Communists during this period was driving out the Nationalist's competing currency and replacing it with the currencies used in the revolutionary base areas. Chen argued that the approach should rely on both economic and political mechanisms (as opposed to prohibition), including regulating the value of competing currencies and controlling trade in key commodities. Another Chen Yun's contribution to the early development of the Chinese economy was his stabilization of prices in Shanghai after the Nationalist government failed to curb the financial crisis caused by speculations of corporate monopolies.

Political career under Mao
In May 1949, Chen Yun was named head of the new national Central Finance and Economic Commission. In early 1952, Zhou Enlai led a team to draft the first Five-Year Plan which included Chen, Bo Yibo, Li Fuchun and General Nie Rongzhen. Zhou, Chen and Li presented the draft to Soviet experts in Moscow, who rejected it. In early 1953, Gao Gang and the State Planning Commission began work on what would eventually become the final version. After Gao's fall, Chen Yun, Bo Yibo, Li Fuchuan and (later) Li Xiannian would manage the Chinese economy for more than 30 years.

Economic management
During the 1950s and 1960s, Chen was a proponent of more market-oriented economic measures. Looking back, Chen would later believe that it was the Mao's errors that most kept China from achieving its Five-Year Plans. In 1956, when the 8th National Congress of Chinese Communist Party was held, Chen was elected a vice chairman of the Central Committee. Around that time, both Mao and Chen had come to believe that the economic system, modeled on that of the Soviet Union, was overly centralized, but had different ideas about what to do about it. Chen's proposal was to make wider use of the market, allowing for the operation of supply and demand rather than simple government fiat in determining the allocation of resources. He argued that decisions concerning prices and production should be made by individual firms, in conformity with business logic. At the same time, he favored giving the central government ministries stronger control over these firms, to assure that their decisions did not transgress the boundaries of the plan.

Mao's idea, rather, was to devolve powers to provincial and local authorities, which were in practice Party committees rather than state technocrats, and to use mass mobilization rather than either a detailed central plan or the market to promote economic growth. Mao's program prevailed, and these policies converged with the rest of the ultimately disastrous Great Leap Forward. By early 1959, the economy was already showing signs of strain. In January of that year, Chen Yun published an article calling for increased Soviet aid. In March, he published a subdued but general critique of the Leap, especially its reliance on the mass movement. Economic growth, he asserted, was not simply a matter of speed. It required attention to safe working conditions and quality engineering. It depended on technical skill, not just political awareness.

Cultural Revolution
Chen fell out of favor with Mao. In the summer of 1959 the Party convened a meeting at the resort town of Lushan to review the policies of the Leap. The Minister of Defense, Marshal Peng Dehuai, attacked the radicalism of the Leap, and Mao took this, or affected to take it, as an attack on himself and his authority. Mao responded with a vicious personal attack on Peng. Peng lost his military positions and the Party undertook a general purge of what Mao termed right opportunism. Further reform of the Leap policies was now out of the question. China continued on its set course for another year or more, and by the end of 1960 had fallen deep into famine.

Chen Yun was certainly in sympathy with Peng Dehuai's criticism of the Leap and joined forces with Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping to manage the economy in the post-Great Leap Forward period, which required deft handling of Chairman Mao's sensitivity to criticism.

Chen retained his positions as Party vice chairman and member of the Politburo and continued to express his opinions behind the scenes. In 1961 he conducted investigations of the rural areas around Shanghai. According to a Cultural Revolution attack on him by the radical group within the finance system, he reported the peasants as saying: "In the days of Chiang Kai-shek we had rice to eat. In the glorious era of Chairman Mao, we have only gruel." According to his obituary, Chen was one of the main designers of the economic policies of the 1961-1962 "capitalist road" era, when China's economic policy stressed material incentives and sought to encourage economic growth in preference to pursuing ideological goals. This approach is often referred to as Chen's "bird-cage" theory of post-Great Leap economic recovery, where the bird represents the free market and the cage represents a central plan. Chen proposed that a balance should be found between "setting the bird free" and choking the bird with a central plan that was too restrictive; this theory would later become a focal point of criticism against Chen during the Cultural Revolution. His only public appearance during this time was a photograph of him published on the front page of the People's Daily and other major newspapers on May 1, 1962, showing Chen shaking hands with Chairman Mao, while Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Deng Xiaoping (the entire inner core of leadership of that time, with the exception of Lin Biao) look on. There was no caption or any other explanation.

During the Cultural Revolution, Chen Yun was denounced in Red Guard publications but not in the official press. He was re-elected to the Central Committee in the Ninth Party Congress in April 1969 but not to the Politburo. He no longer held any functional positions. Later that year he was "evacuated" from Beijing, as were many other inactive or disgraced first-generation leaders, as part of a supposed plan preparing against the eventuality of an invasion by the Soviet Union with whom China had a serious split. Chen was put to work in a factory in Nanchang in Jiangxi province, where he stayed for three years. In January 1975, he was elected to the Standing Committee of China's legislature, the National People's Congress.

Career during the reform period
Following the death of Mao in September 1976 and the coup d'état against the radical Gang of Four a month later, Chen became increasingly active in the country's political life. He and General Wang Zhen petitioned Party chairman Hua Guofeng to rehabilitate Deng Xiaoping at the March 1977 CCP CC Work Conference, but were turned down. After Deng was rehabilitated later that year, Chen led the attack on the Maoist era at the November–December 1978 CCP CC Work Conference, raising the sensitive "six issues": the purges of Bo Yibo, Tao Zhu, Wang Heshou and Peng Dehuai; the 1976 Tiananmen Incident; and, Kang Sheng's errors. Chen raised the six issues in order to undermine Hua and his leftist supporters. Chen's intervention tipped the balance in favor of movement toward an open repudiation of the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaoping's promotion, in December 1978, to de facto head of the regime. Chen laid the basis for Deng's "reform and opening" program.

In July 1979, Chen Yun was named head (and Li Xiannian deputy head) of the new national Economic and Financial Commission staffed with his own allies and conservative economic planners. In April and July of that year he made further provocative statements in internal Party meetings, although their authenticity was denied (in an equivocal manner) by official spokesmen. In these Chen deplored China's lack of economic progress and the people's loss of confidence in the Party. In April he criticized the luxurious life of Party leaders (including himself), and said if he had known in the period before the liberation what the past ten-some years would be like (that is, the Cultural Revolution period), he would have defected to Chiang Kai-shek. He deplored Mao's dictatorial ways and implied, although not very strongly, that the Party should take a milder line against dissidents. If "Lin Biao and the Gang of Four; that is, the radical leftists" had been able to assure the people food and clothing, he said, they would not have been so easy to overthrow.

In July, Chen developed these themes in another exposition (which also included some sarcastic observations on the late Chairman's taste in literature). Chen said: "We say the old dynasties and the KMT 'ruled' the country, but talk instead of the 'leadership' of the Communist Party. But the Party is in fact a ruling party, and if it wishes to keep its position it must also keep the support of the people. It should not float above the masses but should live among them as their servants. Both the welfare of the people and the Party's ruling position require that the Party shrink the distance between itself and the people."

The old dynasties, Chen said, knew the value of a policy of yielding or retreating from untenable positions. The Party has to be able to step back from its past practices: in economy, culture, education, science, and ideology. Without compromising the basic principle of socialism, Chen believed that the Party must accommodate, for the time being, co-existence with aspects of capitalism. But all of this, Chen added, must be done carefully: otherwise China would be in danger of abandoning socialism and restoring capitalism. These pronouncements presaged the major reorientation of Chinese communism in the reform movement.

Role in promoting economic reform

Though Deng Xiaoping is credited as the architect of modern China's economic reforms, Chen Yun contributed much to the strategy adopted by Deng, and Chen was more directly involved in the details of its planning and construction. A key feature of the reform was to use the market to allocate resources, within the scope of an overall plan. The reforms of the early 1980s were, in effect, the implementation, finally, of the program Chen had outlined in the mid-1950s. Chen called this the "birdcage economy". According to Chen, "the cage is the plan, and it may be large or small. But within the cage the bird [the economy] is free to fly as he wishes."

In 1981 a rival "Financial and Economic Leading Group" was established under Zhao Ziyang and staffed by a balanced mix of economic planners. In 1982 Chen Yun, who was 77 years old, stepped down from the Politburo and Central Committee and served as Chairman of the new Central Advisory Commission, an institution set up to provide a place for leadership of the founding generation to remain involved in public affairs.

During the 1980s, Chen was very much involved in policy discussions. In the beginning and as one of the major architects for the reform and opening up, he supported Deng and the liberal market reforms that had been so successful in agriculture to urban areas and the industrial sector. Moreover, he still posited for the state to retain an active role in market development and planning, a policy that would influence future generations of leadership, including Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. He played an active role in the "Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign" organised in late 1983, to help safeguard China's political status quo and domestic stability.

Chen Yun was widely admired and respected for striking a balance between excessive laissez faire capitalism and retaining state leadership in guiding China's market economy. Deng and Chen's reforms and foresight helped make generations of Chinese become richer since the days of Mao's Cultural Revolution, as well as propel China into becoming one of the top economies in the world (number one by PPP and number two by nominal GDP).

Late opponent of reform
Chen was not, in principle, opposed to the scope of Deng's reforms; China's economic policy had effectively frozen consumer prices for decades, to the point that prices in China no longer had much relationship to the relative value of resources, goods, or services. Chen objected to the way in which the urban reforms were carried out. The immediate consequence of Deng's price reform was a sudden and massive inflation, unprecedented in the experience of the younger generation and particularly frightening to older folks who could still remember the rampant inflation in the last years of the Nationalist regime. The increasing circulation of money in the economy, together with a hybrid system in which those in official position or with official connections were particularly well-placed to take advantage of the new opportunities to make a profit, encouraged official corruption. Chen Yun also fought against corruption and harshly cracked down corrupt officials.

The government's first response to inflation was to issue bonuses to workers in state-owned enterprises, to help make up for the price increases. Chen Yun argued that, if there were to be such bonuses, they should be gauged to increased productivity. In practice, the bonuses were universal throughout the state sector and had the same economic effect as if the government had simply printed more money. Because Chinese farmers were not eligible for bonuses since they were not technically state employees, China's agricultural sector, which had prospered in the first stage of the reform, was especially damaged by inflation.

Chen's theory had been that the market should supplement the plan. In the context of radical Maoism this made him seem like a social democratic proponent of market socialism. It turned out, however, that Chen meant exactly what he had said. He was much less enthusiastic about the market than Deng Xiaoping and Deng's younger colleagues. Although in his "secret" pronouncements of 1979 Chen had shown an unusual personal disdain for Mao, he also indicated he shared the late Chairman's worries that China would abandon socialism and revert to capitalism. Chen was skeptical regarding the special economic zones (SEZ), viewing them as a non-socialist experiment.

During the 1980s Chen emerged as the main figure among the more hard-line opponents of reform. He supported the vigorous campaign in the early 1980s against the "three kinds of people", a general purge of all those who had been identified with radical factions during the Cultural Revolution. He made common cause with conservatives among other Party elders. During the reform era Chen refused to meet with foreigners. Chen never visited the new SEZs. In a memorial tribute to Li Xiannian, an old colleague from the economic system (and, like Chen, one of the few real proletarians among the first generation of Party leaders), Chen stated that he was not necessarily opposed to everything about the SEZs. While Chen became the moral leader of the conservative opposition to Deng Xiaoping, he did not challenge Deng's personal primacy as head of regime.

Although Zhao Ziyang's promotion of political and economic reform made Zhao one of Chen's main political rivals, Chen was one of the Party elders active in the 1980s who Zhao respected most. In Zhao's autobiography, Chen was one of the few elders who Zhao referred to regularly as a "comrade". Before implementing new policies, Zhao made a habit of visiting Chen, in order to solicit Chen's advice and attempt to gain Chen's approval. In the event that Zhao failed to gain Chen's approval, Zhao would then normally attempt to fall back on the favor of Deng Xiaoping in order to promote reforms.

Tiananmen Square protests
In 1989, Chen, alongside Deng Xiaoping, Li Peng, and others, was among the Party elders responsible for making the key decisions concerning the student-led Tiananmen Square protests. There is no evidence that Chen indulged in diatribes against the students or actively advocated their violent repression. While Chen was opposed to the violent suppression of the students, he gave his support to the military once the action had begun. Chen agreed that Zhao Ziyang should be replaced as the formal head of the Party, and he endorsed Li Xiannian's nomination of Jiang Zemin as the new Party General Secretary.

Retirement and death
After the 13th Party Congress in November 1987, Chen ended his 56 year–long political career as a member of the CCP Central Committee, also leaving the Politburo Standing Committee, along with both Deng Xiaoping and Li Xiannian. However, Chen succeeded Deng as the Chairman of the Central Advisory Committee.

In October 1992 at the age of 87, Chen retired from politics along with other party elders at the 14th Party Congress when the Central Advisory Committee was also abolished.

Chen died in 12 April 1995, at the age of 89.

Legacy

Chen Yun was known for his foundational role in spearheading the reform and opening up alongside Deng Xiaoping. During Deng's term, Chen Yun was the second most powerful person in China. Chen was praised for implementing many of the reforms that made the new generation of Chinese richer, but was also admired for striking a balance between too much laissez-faire economics and retaining state control over key areas of the market. He was liberal in the beginning, but later more cautious and conservative, especially in his last years. He was widely admired by the Chinese populace, known for his wide-sweeping economic strategic planning, morality and incorruptibility.

Chen's political perspective is generally viewed as reformist until about 1980, but conservative after about 1984. Chen Yun remains one of China's most powerful and influential leaders, especially in the PRC's first 50 years, as he was a central decision-maker for the CCP, serving on the Central Committee and Politburo for over 40 years.

In the beginning, Chen supported Deng, carried out and implemented many of the influential reforms that made a generation of Chinese richer. But later, Chen realized that the state still needed an active iron hand involvement in the market to prevent the private sector from becoming untamable. Chen's criticism of Deng's later economic reforms was widely influential within the Communist Party and was reflected in the policies of China's leaders after Deng. Chen's theories supported the efforts of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao to use state power to provide boundaries for the operation of the market, and to mediate the damage that capitalism can do to those who find it difficult to benefit from the free market. Chen's notion of the CCP as a "ruling party" is central to the redefinition of the role of the Party in Jiang Zemin's Three Represents. In 2005, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Chen's birth, the Party press published, over the course of several weeks, the proceedings of a symposium discussing Chen's contributions to CCP history, theory and practice.

Although Chen opposed the Mao regime and opposed some of Deng's later policies, Chen was still widely respected as one of the leading elders of the Chinese Communist Party. During the Cultural Revolution, Chen was able to escape political persecution, especially in Mao's time, as he carefully avoided challenging the top leadership too much. Whatever the wisdom of his substantive positions, Chen consistently appeared to act on principle rather than for personal advantage, and retained his influence in the party throughout the Mao and Deng eras.

His eldest son, Chen Yuan, is the founding Governor of the China Development Bank and the former Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Works

References

Citations

Sources

 Chen Yunzhuan, Biography of Chen Yun, Jin Chongji and Chen Qun, Beijing: Central Literature Publishing House, 2005, 2 vols.
 China News Analysis, 1182 (June 6, 1982)
 Donald W. Klein & Anne B. Clark, Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971) Vol 1, pp. 149–153.

 Franz Schurmann, Ideology and Organization in Communist China  (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 195–208.

 Nicholas R. Lardy and Kenneth Lieberthal, eds., Chen Yün's Strategy for China's Development: A Non-Maoist Alternative (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1983).

 Ye Yonglie, 1978: Zhongguo Mingyun Da Zhuanzhe (Canton: Guangzhou Renmin Zhubanshe, 1997), pp. 255–260, 584–595.
 The Tiananmen Papers, compiled by Zhang Liang, edited by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link (New York: Public Affairs, 2001), p. 308.

External links
Chen Yun, Stefan Landsberger's Page

1905 births
1995 deaths
Chen Yun family
Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery
People's Republic of China politicians from Shanghai
Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanghai
Delegates to the 1st National People's Congress
Delegates to the 2nd National People's Congress
Delegates to the 3rd National People's Congress
Delegates to the 4th National People's Congress
Delegates to the 5th National People's Congress
First vice premiers of the People's Republic of China
International Lenin School alumni
Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 7th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 8th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 11th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 12th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Secretaries of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress
Vice Premiers of the People's Republic of China

Chen Yun


Fabrizio Mioni (September 23, 1930 – 8 June 2020) was an Italian actor. He appeared in the films Roland the Mighty, Hercules, The Blue Angel, Get Yourself a College Girl, Girl Happy, The Venetian Affair, The Secret War of Harry Frigg and The Pink Jungle. He appeared in the television series Goodyear Theatre, The Lineup, Bronco, Bourbon Street Beat, Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, Markham, General Electric Theater, Death Valley Days, 77 Sunset Strip, The Lloyd Bridges Show, Breaking Point, Dr. Kildare, Bonanza, Perry Mason, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Virginian, The Long, Hot Summer, Occasional Wife, I Spy, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Big Valley, Garrison's Gorillas, The Rat Patrol, The High Chaparral, To Rome with Love and Love, American Style.

Filmography

References

External links

1930 births
2020 deaths
20th-century Italian male actors
Italian male film actors

Fabrizio Mioni


Eagle Test Systems is a supplier of automatic test equipment (ATE) and operates as a business unit within the Teradyne Semiconductor Test Division.  Eagle's test equipment was designed to address volume production. Customers, including semiconductor manufacturers and assembly and test subcontractors, use the products to test analog, a combination of digital and analog, known as mixed-signal, and radio frequency (RF) semiconductors.

History
Eagle Test Systems was founded by Len Foxman and began providing test solutions in 1976. Since October 1, 2003, they have delivered over 600 test systems to more than 60 customers worldwide. Prior to being acquired by Teradyne, global headquarters were located at its manufacturing facility in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. There, Eagle Test Systems operated sales, services and engineering support facilities in the United States through regional offices and globally through their offices in Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Italy, Germany, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Eagle Test Systems completed their initial public offering on March 14, 2006 (original stock ticker EGLT).  On November 14, 2008 Eagle Test was acquired by Teradyne.

Competition
Teradyne's principal competitors in the automatic test equipment business are:
 Advantest
 SPEA (company)
 LTX - Credence Systems Corporation (including its NPTest acquisition which was formerly Schlumberger Limited, formerly Fairchild Test Systems Group, a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument)
 Verigy (formerly a division of Hewlett-Packard and then Agilent Technologies)

References

Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Companies based in Lake County, Illinois
Equipment semiconductor companies

Eagle Test Systems