On November 5, 2021, a tragic incident occurred at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas. Ten people lost their lives and hundreds more were injured when the crowd surged toward the stage during Scott’s headlining performance. In the aftermath of the tragedy, many questions have arisen about what exactly happened that night and who holds responsibility. One question that has been circulating is whether or not rapper Kanye West was in attendance at the ill-fated concert.
What happened at Astroworld?
Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival was launched in 2018 and is held annually in Scott’s hometown of Houston. The 2021 edition was slated to run from November 5-6 at NRG Park, with Scott headlining. An estimated 50,000 people were in attendance on the night of November 5 to see Scott take the stage. According to eyewitness reports and video footage, the crowd began pushing toward the stage when Scott began performing, causing the attendees in front to be crushed against metal barriers. As the situation escalated, some concertgoers were trampled or struggled to breathe, resulting in what officials would later call a deadly crowd surge. It took hours for the concert to be halted and for help to reach those in need amid the chaos. 10 people between the ages of 14-27 were killed as a result of injuries sustained at the event. Hundreds more required medical attention for issues like cardiac arrest and respiratory failure.
What role did Travis Scott play?
As the founder of the Astroworld festival and the headliner of the night in question, Travis Scott has come under immense scrutiny in the wake of the tragedy. Critics have accused Scott of continuing to perform and egg on the crowd as the situation was rapidly deteriorating in front of the stage. Scott said he was not aware of the extent of what was happening in the crowd from his vantage point on stage. He paused the show and asked security to help distressed fans on a few occasions but kept performing his set until the end when police officially declared a mass casualty event. Scott has expressed devastation over the lives lost and offered to pay the funeral expenses for victims but still faces a barrage of lawsuits accusing him and the concert organizers of gross negligence.
What about Drake?
Rapper Drake joined Travis Scott on stage as a guest performer during the fatal set. Like Scott, he has been named in several lawsuits around Astroworld. Drake has stated that he was unaware of any fatalities in the crowd until after his appearance. Footage shows him noticing an ambulance but continuing to perform as it passed through the densely packed audience. Critics argue that Drake, with his elevated stage view, should have realized that something was amiss and called for the concert to stop. Drake has expressed condolences but denied legal liability. He was called out for going to an afterparty following his stage appearance, though he said it was a placeholder event he only attended briefly to support a friend.
Was Kanye actually there?
In the hours and days following Astroworld, rumors began circulating on social media that rapper Kanye West and his girlfriend Julia Fox were in the audience that night. However, evidence indicates that Kanye was not actually in attendance at Astroworld Festival 2021.
A key piece of evidence is that Kanye was spotted in New York City with Julia Fox earlier in the day on November 5. He hosted a listening event for his album Donda at city point in Brooklyn that Friday afternoon. Photographs place Kanye and Fox in NYC that evening, having dinner at Carbone restaurant. Flight records also indicate that Kanye flew from NYC to Los Angeles sometime overnight after his album event. So it appears he couldn’t have made it to Houston for Astroworld, which started late in the evening on November 5.
There are no photos or videos that place Kanye definitively at the festival in Houston as there are for other celebs like Drake. The rumors seem to stem from footage of an anonymous man in black leather looking vaguely Kanye-ish within the chaotic crowds. But without a clear shot of his face, this footage remains inconclusive at best. Some internet sleuths used snapshots from the crowd to speculate that FX actor Trevor Jackson was the one mistaken for Kanye. Neither Kanye nor Julia Fox have made any statements to confirm or deny their presence at the fateful concert.
All available evidence points to Kanye still being in NYC or transit to LA during the timeline of the tragedy in Houston on November 5. While his association with Travis Scott through music collaborations and his Texas roots made his rumored appearance believable at first glance, the key details simply don’t add up. With an alibi that appears to check out, Kanye West seems to be conclusively off the hook for any direct involvement in the deadly Astroworld Festival events.
Kanye’s association with Travis Scott
Although Kanye did not attend the ill-fated Astroworld concert, he still has an association with headliner Travis Scott that is worth examining. Kanye and Scott have a history of collaborating on creative projects, both musically and fashion-wise. A few highlights:
- Scott was signed to Kanye’s music imprint G.O.O.D. Music from 2012 to 2014
- Kanye was a producer on Scott’s debut studio album Rodeo in 2015
- Scott contributed vocals to “Piss on Your Grave” from Kanye’s 2015 album The Life of Pablo
- Kanye performed his track “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” at Scott’s first Astroworld festival in 2018
- Kanye and Scott collaborated on the track “Watch” in 2019
- They have supported each other’s fashion lines, with Scott walking in Kanye’s Yeezy Season 1 show
Kanye and Scott have had a close creative partnership and mutual admiration over the years. Kanye has praised Scott’s artistic vision, even calling him the new king of hip hop on social media back in 2013. While their exact current relationship status is unknown, the two were seemingly on positive terms as recently as their 2019 song collaboration.
Kanye’s larger connection to the tragedy
The Astroworld tragedy has cast a spotlight on issues around crowd safety, security protocols, and the responsibilities of artists at large-scale live events. As an A-list performer who frequently headlines massive arena shows and festivals of his own, Kanye does have a connection to these broader conversations prompted by the catastrophic loss of life at Astroworld Festival 2021. Looking at Kanye’s touring history, we can find some parallels and talking points around event control and preventing crowd crushing.
- Size and scale – Kanye’s Saint Pablo Tour in 2016 had him performing on a “floating” stage suspended above the audience at arena stops, sometimes hovering 150 feet above the floor. The scale and logistics needed are not unlike a major outdoor festival.
- Incidents – While there have not been any major casualties, there have been reports of chaotic crowds at some Kanye shows over the years, including bottle throwing and gate crashing. His infamous Bonnaroo set in 2008 was delayed for hours when the crowd grew restless.
- Production values – Like Travis Scott’s shows, Kanye concerts are known for big budgets, elaborate staging, pyrotechnics and complex lighting set-ups. The scope of production also requires extensive technical oversight.
While every event has its own unique challenges, Kanye’s touring experiences likely share some broad themes and areas of concern with putting on a safe, well-run festival like Astroworld aimed at drawing tens of thousands of fans. The tragedy in Houston is prompting artists, promoters and vendors across the live music world to reexamine their own protocols and emergency response capabilities to help identify and reduce risks at large gatherings.
Conclusion
Based on currently available information, Kanye West does not appear to have been present at Travis Scott’s doomed Astroworld Festival in 2021. His location and activities earlier that day point to him still being in New York City and then traveling on to Los Angeles, making his rumored appearance in Houston seem implausible. While Kanye has an artistic relationship and mutual respect with Travis Scott, he seems to have no direct connection to the tragic crowd surge that caused 8 deaths and hundreds of injuries that November evening. However, as a mega-star who headlines major arena tours and festivals himself, Kanye likely relates to some of the broader conversation around event safety and crowd control issues that have been sparked by the unprecedented catastrophe at Astroworld.