“Mafia” by Travis Scott (ft. J. Cole)
To some extent, “Mafia” reads like your traditional Travis Scott outing. For instance, we have the types of references to money, violence and romantic interests as you would expect from a mainstream rapper of his standing. But the second verse in particular places an emphasis on the fact that Travis is not rolling alone.
Or as he puts it, he “couldn’t do none of this”, i.e. be a major success, ‘by himself’. And these individuals who support him are the selfsame “mafia” that this song is named after. And whereas the term mafia is one that is usually associated with organized crime, the vocalist doesn’t really take it there. For instance, Travis namedrops one Mike Brown, who is reportedly his head of security.
So this track is likely meant to serve as a shoutout to his periphery people, i.e. the homeys who support him down in varying capacities. And as revealed in the chorus, it is also in honor of such individuals who did not survive to see this day.
But of course, even though the emphasis may not be on violence per se, that’s not to imply that the “mafia” are akin to pacifists. For as also indicated in the chorus, when Travis is “up at the club” he is indeed strapped, and by implication his brethren would be also – on top of ballin’ of course.
That’s why, as buttressed by J. Cole, Scott asserts that there’s no need to go around trying to ascertain who the “hardest n*–as around” are. For that, once again, would be his “mafia”. And taken more practically, it isn’t as if the vocalist is trying to intimidate anyone per se. Rather, this is Travis’s way of biggin’ up his crew, rap music style.
Facts about “Mafia”
J. Cole does in fact participate on Mafia, in a background vocalist capacity. In other words, he is not an official co-headliner and by the looks of things is only tasked with holding down a few lines in the chorus. But to note he and Travis have once officially collaborated, via Young Thug’s 2019 track “The London“.
Along with “Escape Plan“, this is one of two tracks Travis released on 5 November 2021, i.e. earlier on the same day that eight people died at his Astroworld Festival.
And at the time, it is not specified if these tracks will be on any of his upcoming albums. But both are believed to be the lead singles from his fourth studio album, which is entitled Utopia.
The producers of this song, Boi-1da and Jahaan Sweet, also co-wrote it with Travis and J. Cole. And the labels that put it out are Cactus Jack Records and Epic.
