Two HBCU marching bands star in new Travis Scott song 4×4

By Tolly Car

Travis Scott debuted his new single “4×4” on Monday, performing it live at the College Football National Championship game. On Friday he dropped the music video to the song which prominently features the Prairie View A&M marching band. The song itself however contains a sample from an entirely different HBCU marching band. According to whosampled.com, the band melody that appears at the beginning and throughout the song is a sample from the Aristocrat of Bands at Tennessee State University.

The sample was reportedly taken from a 2016 performance from the AOB performing “Say Sum” by Migos. The video of the performance that was referenced was posted to YouTube on Sept. 11, 2016 by HBCUbands.com, a day after the Southern Heritage Classic. The SHC is traditionally one of the premiere HBCU football classics. It would appear that the performance was part of the ‘fifth quarter’ showdown between Jackson State and Tennessee State after the game.

Several users flocked to the comments section to discuss the performance being sampled in the song, which can be heard at the 1:17 mark of the performance.

A Fever Dream with HBCU flavor

In the music video, released on Friday, Scott uses “The Marching Storm” from Prairie View A&M. Scott grew up in Houston which is 52 miles away from the city of Prairie View.

“You might want to head on over to TravisScott.com right now and check this out! You may see somebody you know…. #4×4,” the band posted on its official Instagram account.

The video, directed by Gabriel Moses, is best described as a fever dream of visuals featuring Travis Scott. In addition to performing his lyrics in front of the HBCU band from the SWAC, Scott appears in a rodeo, as a professional wrestler, and in an OJ Simpson-style police chase. The video ends with a monkey listening to the music with headphones on as if the entire video was the primate’s thoughts.