Travis Scott & Don Toliver – Champain & Vacay

Cham Pain for my cham friends, Vacay for my real friends…

[Video]
[3.22]

Will Adams: A peak behind the curtain: For a few years now, I’ve been responsible for creating and uploading the images on this site’s posts. I usually try to source an eye-catching or funny or shady screenshot from each song’s music video. (If a video doesn’t exist, I have to look elsewhere, as is the case here; this still is from the “Dumbo” video.) While preparing this month’s batch of images, I searched “Champain and Vacay” on YouTube and scrolled. While I didn’t find an official video, I spotted something else: the second result was “Travis Scott & Don Toliver – CHAMPAIN & VACAY [no Waka Flocka Flame adlibs]” and, one entry down, uploaded by the same user, “Travis Scott & Don Toliver – CHAMPAIN & VACAY but Waka’s adlibs are quieter.”  “Hm, wonder what that’s about,” I thought. And then I listened to the original, and in nine seconds I had my answer. I actually don’t mind Flocka’s screams; they’re over the top and sit loud in the mix, but they’re about the only thing of note in this woozy flex song besides a stray jab at Pusha T.
[4]

Dave Moore: Is Waka Flocka Flame not even credited on this song? That’s like not crediting DJ Larry on “The Old Saloon.”
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Julian Axelrod: The best and worst decision Travis Scott made is having Waka Flocka Flame yell ad-libs all over his track. As Waka’s evolved into an audio accoutrement for rappers young enough to be nostalgic for Flockaveli, his bellows and whoops have come to serve the same function as the Three 6 Mafia and Goodie Mob samples Travis sprinkled throughout Astroworld: a bit of grit and grime to color the sterile soundscape Scott presents in blindingly high fidelity. On one hand, every verse sounds at least 40% with Flocka yelling “BAOW BAOW BAOW” in the background, and I’ve never been more excited about “Jackboys 2” as a concept than when it’s screamed like a challenge to God. (If I were Resident Yeller Sheck Wes, this song would make me real concerned about my job security.) On the other hand, it’s hard to get fully “intergalactic” when you have the rap equivalent of a 100-pound weight dragging your typically airy production into the lower reaches of the stratosphere. The result is a weird half-compromise that doesn’t feel grounded but, much like Bun B’s outro anecdote, never fully achieves liftoff. Wouldn’t the hot girl who prefers blasting “Hard in Da Paint” over bottle service and expensive trips at least want to hear a Waka Flocka Flame verse?
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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: About as pleasant as just listening to “Sicko Mode” and “Hard In Da Paint” at the same time would be. In the weeks since this came out, Metro Boomin demonstrated proper use of the limited but focused talents of Waka Flocka Flame. Otherwise, this is thoroughly pointless: Travis Scott should not attempt to respond to Pusha T in rap beef as a matter of course; after a half decade of observation I’m still not sure what Don Toliver does.
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Alfred Soto: Constructed for a theoretical Miami stadium, “Champain & Vacay” is itself theoretical: an intro in search of a song.
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Al Varela: Half of this song is building up this huge mosh pit provoking moment through a loud hypeman and elongated synth notes and when we finally get to the big drop it’s Krabby Land hosted by Cheapy The Cheapskate.
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Nortey Dowuona: No. “ICE AGE” is better.
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Taylor Alatorre: In terms of the credibility being borrowed, Waka Flocka’s near-vandalistic appearance here is closer in spirit to his mid-2010s stunt collaborations with festival EDM producers like Flosstradamus and Steve Aoki than to a genuine give-and-take melding of two different micro-generations of turn-up music. What that says about Travis Scott’s current function in the pop landscape, I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader.
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Katherine St. Asaph: I’m good on testosterone, thanks.
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