Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer
In an interview for GQ Magazine this week, Houston-bred rapper Travis Scott revealed he has dreams of bringing back AstroWorld, the theme park that defined his youth and now serves as inspiration behind his 2018 award winning album and annual music festival.
Long before there was Astroworld the album, there was AstroWorld the amusement park.
In an interview for GQ Magazine this week, Houston-bred rapper Travis Scott revealed he has dreams of bringing back the former theme park, which closed in 2005 and serves as inspiration behind both his local music festival and 2018 award winning album.
Scott said he’s been in talks with Mayor Sylvester Turner about how he can be more hands-on in the community, and he wants to do things that will stand strong long after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Times are weird for people, and they’re trying to figure out what to do,” Scott told GQ. “Seeing what’s going on in the world is keeping me motivated. Figuring out ways to make it better, that’s really keeping me motivated. And whether it’s with music, or whether it’s trying to go change stuff in the inner city—I’m just trying to turn it up on all levels.”
LIFE BEFORE COVID: Travis Scott brings Astroworld back to Houston for a second year
Now you’re probably wondering, what the heck is AstroWorld? I know you’re not actually wondering, but as a native Mississippian, I’m here to tell you: It definitely seemed to live up to the Houston hype.
Photo: Sam C. Pierson Jr., Houston Chronicle
Nothing matched the excitement of walking up to the AstroWorld gates, as these HISD students are doing in this May 22, 1986 photo.
From “Fright Nights” in the fall to “Holiday in the Park” during the winter months, the Six Flags-owned theme park (it opened in 1968 but was taken over by Six Flags in ’75) had a little bit of everything.
The Texas Cyclone, the Bamboo Shoot and the Greezed Lightnin’: all AstroWorld attractions. Six Flags even added the $15 million 10-acre WaterWorld to it in 1983, which was the “first-of-its-kind attraction for Houston.”
Scott said he’s not sure what he wants to do with the theme park turned parking lot, but I’ve been told it would devastate Houstonians if he did anything other than return it to its natural state of glory.