Jacques Bermon Webster II was born on April 30, 1991, in Houston, Texas, the son of Wanda, who worked for AT&T, and Jacques Bermon Webster, an entrepreneur and musician. From ages one through six, Webster lived with his grandmother in South Park, Houston. The neighborhood was notorious for crime and had an impact on a young Webster, "Growing up, my grandmother stayed in the 'hood so I seen random crazy shit. [I saw] mad bums and crazy spazzed out motherfuckers, I saw people looking weird, hungry, and [grimy]. I was always like, 'I gotta get the fuck out this shit.' It gave me my edge—[it made me] who I am right now."

Webster moved to Missouri City, a middle-class suburban area bordering southwest Houston, to live with his parents. His mother worked for Apple and his father ran his own business. Webster's father is also a soul musician and his grandfather was a jazz composer. Webster attended Elkins High School and graduated at seventeen. During high school, he participated in musical theater. Webster then attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, before dropping out his second year to fully pursue his music career. During an interview, Webster revealed he chose his moniker as a combination of his favorite uncle, Travis, and the first name of one of his biggest inspirations, Kid Cudi (whose real name is Scott Mescudi).

Webster formed a duo with his longtime friend Chris Holloway known as The Graduates. In 2008, the duo released their untitled first EP on social networking website Myspace. The following year, Scott and OG Chess, one of Scott's schoolmates, formed the group The Classmates. The Classmates released two projects, with Buddy Rich in 2009 and Cruis'n USA in 2010. Scott mainly handled production work on both projects. The duo remained together until late 2012, when personal conflicts and financial disputes led to the disbandment of the group.

After leaving college, Scott moved from Houston to Washington Heights in New York City where Scott began working with friend Mike Waxx, who owned the music website Illroots. After moving to New York, Scott slept on the floor at his friend's house and spent most of his time at Just Blaze's studio. Eventually frustrated in New York and the lack of progression, Scott moved to Los Angeles, California, after only four months in the state. In Los Angeles, Webster was abandoned by his friend who had promised to help him by providing housing. His parents cut him off financially and he eventually was forced to relocate back to Houston, where his parents kicked him out of their home. Webster moved back to Los Angeles once again and began to sleep on the couch of a friend who studied at University of Southern California. Atlanta-based rapper and owner of Grand Hustle Records, T.I. would later hear one of Webster's productions, titled "Lights (Love Sick)". While in Los Angeles, T.I.'s representative contacted Webster, asking him to attend a studio for a meeting. During the meeting, T.I. freestyled over "Animal", one of Webster's productions.

Scott's first solo full-length project is his mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh, which was set to be released as a free download in 2012. However, the project was delayed, and was announced to be slated for a later release. The project was later re-created by Kanye West and Mike Dean, and was then again delayed for sample clearance issues. In promotion Scott would release the track, "Blocka La Flame", a remix of fellow GOOD Music label-mate Pusha T's single "Blocka" (which features production and vocals from Scott). The song was produced by Young Chop, with additional production by Scott himself, alongside Mike Dean. On March 22, 2013, Scott released the music video for a song titled "Quintana", set to appear on Owl Pharaoh. On March 27, XXL revealed that Scott was a member of their Freshman Class of 2013. Later on March 29, 2013, following his interview with British disc jockey, DJ Semtex, Scott premiered a snippet of his commercial debut single, titled "Upper Echelon", featuring 2 Chainz and T.I. On April 2, 2013, Scott stated Owl Pharaoh was his official debut mixtape and would be released on the iTunes Store on May 21, 2013. On April 23, 2013, "Upper Echelon" was sent to urban contemporary radio.

On March 13, 2014, Scott performed a new song, tentatively titled "1975" featuring Big Sean, from his upcoming project at the time, at the Texan music festival South by Southwest (SXSW). Scott later confirmed via his Twitter account that the song is not called "1975", and would be included on his second mixtape, titled Days Before Rodeo. He would later take to his Twitter account to announce Rodeo, as the official title for his major-label debut studio album. On May 5, 2014, Scott released the full version of the song, with its new title "Don't Play", featuring a sample of the song "M.O.N.E.Y" by the English rock band the 1975. On July 11, 2014, "Don't Play" was officially released as the lead single from Days Before Rodeo, via digital distribution.

Following the success of Days Before Rodeo, Scott announced that he would headline a concert tour, called The Rodeo Tour, with rapper Young Thug and producer Metro Boomin. The tour started on March 1, 2015, in Santa Ana, California, and ended on April 1, 2015, in Portland, Oregon. The tour ran through major cities and artists such as Kanye West, Chris Brown, Wale and Birdman made special guest appearances in certain cities.

Rodeo was released on September 4, 2015, by Grand Hustle and Epic Records. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200, selling 85,000 album-equivalent units in the first week. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Juicy J, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Swae Lee, Chief Keef, Justin Bieber, Young Thug and Toro y Moi, and includes production from Mike Dean, Kanye West, WondaGurl, Suber, DJ Dahi, Metro Boomin, 1500 or Nothin', Sonny Digital, Southside, Terrace Martin, Zaytoven, Pharrell Williams and Scott himself, among others. The album was supported by two singles: "3500" featuring Future and 2 Chainz, and "Antidote". The latter became his highest-charting single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 16**,** and achieving a septuple Platinum certification by the RIAA. Rodeo received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Rap Albums chart.

On January 4, 2016, Scott announced that he had a new studio album on the way. On March 29, 2016, 300 Entertainment executive Lyor Cohen, revealed that Scott and Young Thug were releasing a single together and called Scott's upcoming album a "classic". On April 7, 2016, Scott previewed a single with Young Thug at one of his shows. On May 17, 2016, Scott announced that the title of his second album would be Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, while also confirming the title for his third album to be Astroworld. On June 3, 2016, the collaborative single between Thug and Scott was released, titled "Pick Up the Phone". The single, which also features vocals from Quavo of Atlanta-based rap trio Migos, reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

On August 31, 2016, Scott announced that Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight was finally finished in a post on Instagram. Scott premiered the album on his third episode of .wav radio on September 2, 2016, and was later released on iTunes and Apple Music. On September 11, 2016, the album became Scott's first number one album on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album’s single “Pick Up the Phone” (with Young Thug) peaked at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified quadruple Platinum. A day later, Universal Music Publishing Group's CEO, Jody Gerson announced that the label signed a worldwide deal with Scott.

In the same episode Scott premiered Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, he also announced that he would be executive producing on Kanye West's Cruel Winter, a follow-up to his G.O.O.D. Music label's debut compilation Cruel Summer. In the episode he described the upcoming album as, "very youthful, straight to the point, like the illest ever, man, like the illest album".

Scott performed at All-Star Weekend on February 16, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana at Champion Square. He also performed at New Orleans BUKU Music + Art Project festival on March 10, 2017. On March 5, Scott announced a concert tour called "Birds Eye View". The next day, the dates and cities for the tour were unveiled, with it beginning on March 10, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and coming to an end on June 2, in Eugene, Oregon. In the same month, Scott was also featured alongside American rapper Quavo from the hip-hop group Migos on Canadian rapper Drake's single "Portland", from Drake's commercial mixtape, More Life. The song peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first top ten song as a featured artist. In March 2017, Scott announced he would be launching his own imprint, under the name of Cactus Jack Records.

On April 3, 2017, it was reported Scott had been working on a collaborative studio album with Quavo, potentially to be released later in 2017. Speaking to GQ, he confirmed: 'The Quavo album is coming soon. I'm dropping new music soon. You know how I do it though: I like surprises. In addition to the collaborative album, Scott announced his third studio album Astroworld, named after the defunct Houston theme park of the same name, was nearing completion and would most likely be released in 2017.

On May 16, 2017, Scott released three new tracks on SoundCloud, after teasing on social media for some time. The tracks were named "A Man", "Green & Purple (featuring Playboi Carti)", and "Butterfly Effect". The latter was also released on every other streaming service, as the only track. On June 15, 2017, Scott announced he would be doing a European leg of the "Birds Eye View Tour". The European leg started on the June 23 in Paris, and concluded on July 9 in Turku, Finland. This leg was mainly festival sets or in smaller club settings. The music video for "Butterfly Effect" was released on July 14, 2017. On August 10, 2017, Scott tweeted "ALBUM MODE" as he had just finished the "DAMN. Tour" as a supporting act for Kendrick Lamar, the night before. This tweet signified that he was now working on his album AstroWorld full-time. On August 27, 2017, Scott performed with Thirty Seconds to Mars at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards on their single "Walk On Water".

On September 18, 2017, Quavo and Migos did an interview, in which Quavo stated that his album with Scott was coming "real soon". He also stated that he and Scott had over 20 records ready. In October 2017, Scott was featured in a special piece titled "Deserve", by Chinese born Canadian rapper Kris Wu. On December 7, 2017, a clip of Quavo being interviewed by Zane Lowe was posted on the official Twitter account for Beats 1. When asked about the title of their upcoming project, he confirmed it would be Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.

On December 6, 2017, Scott was featured on fellow American rapper and singer Trippie Redd's single "Dark Knight Dummo", the lead single from the latter's debut studio album, Life's a Trip. The song peaked at 72 on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 21, 2017, Scott and Quavo released their collaborative studio album, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, under the name "Huncho Jack", a name which comes from Quavo's nickname "Huncho" and a play on Scott's first name "Jack". The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and had seven tracks chart on the Billboard Hot 100. After the release of Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, Webster was spotted in the studio a lot more frequently and Billboard slated an expected first quarter release for AstroWorld.

On May 4, 2018, Scott released a single titled "Watch" featuring American rappers Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West. The single was released as promotional material for his third studio album Astroworld. Astroworld was released on August 3, 2018, to critical acclaim, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 537,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, making it one of the biggest hip-hop debuts of the decade. "Sicko Mode", the album's second single, peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Scott's highest charting solo single, earning 15x Platinum certification and being nominated for two Grammys. On the same month of the album's launch, Scott announced that he was going to launch Astroworld Festival, a music festival with the same name as the album. The festival took place on November 17. On November 2, 2018, Scott was featured on five tracks of Metro Boomin's debut studio album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes: "Overdue", "Dreamcatcher" (alongside Swae Lee), "Up to Something" (alongside Young Thug), "Only 1 (Interlude)", and "No More" (alongside Kodak Black and 21 Savage), as well as background vocals on "Space Cadet" (featuring Gunna). In December, Billboard reported that Scott was to make a guest appearance at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show during Maroon 5's set.

In December 2018, Scott was also featured in a cover story for Rolling Stone titled “Travis Scott: In Orbit With Rap's Newest Superstar.”

On April 18, 2019, Scott released a single with SZA and The Weeknd for the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. It is titled "Power is Power" and is a reference to a scene that took place in the first episode of the show's second season. The track is the second song on the Game of Thrones soundtrack album entitled For the Throne. On May 23, 2019, Scott was featured alongside J. Cole on Young Thug's single, "The London", which later appeared as the lead single on Thug's debut studio album, So Much Fun. On August 28, 2019, Scott's documentary film, Look Mom I Can Fly, was released on Netflix. On October 4, 2019, Scott released a single, "Highest in the Room", which debuted and peaked at number one on the Hot 100, being his first song to debut at the top and his second number one following "Sicko Mode" in 2018. The same month, Scott was also featured on the remix of Young Thug's single, "Hot" with Gunna, who was featured on the original song as well. The song was later added to the deluxe edition of So Much Fun in December of that year. Scott also was featured on the track "Hop Off a Jet" from the deluxe edition.

On December 2, 2019, Scott announced a compilation album with his Cactus Jack label members, consisting of Don Toliver, Sheck Wes and producer Chase B (collectively known as JackBoys, titled JackBoys. On December 24, Scott revealed the album's release date via Instagram. The album was released on December 27, 2019, and featured a remix of "Highest in the Room" featuring Spanish singer Rosalía and American rapper Lil Baby, the latter's verse being leaked months prior. On the same day, Scott released the music video for "Gang Gang" performed by Wes, with uncredited vocals and cameo appearances from Scott, Toliver, and rapper Luxury Tax 50. On December 30, 2019, Scott released the music video for "Gatti", featuring Pop Smoke. On March 20, 2020, Scott released the music video for "Out West", featuring Young Thug. The single “Out West” was also the subject of a viral TikTok dance challenge in 2020. The album also featured Scott’s second collaboration with Don Tolliver, “What to Do?” After the label compilation’s release, the album JackBoys topped the Billboard 200. In 2020, Scott became the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to debut three songs at number one within a 12‑month span with “Highest in the Room,” “The Scotts” (with Kid Cudi) and “Franchise.” The project was supported by a short film blending surreal visuals with cinematic storytelling.

Scott performed five virtual live shows in the video game Fortnite Battle Royale from April 23 to 25, 2020 with visuals based on his Astroworld tour. It received more than 27 million viewers and boosted the sales of Fortnite-branded Cactus Jack products such as action figures. The performance also included the premiere of his new song with Kid Cudi, who released the song, "The Scotts", as a duo under the same name. Tying with the performance, numerous cosmetic items for player avatars based on Scott and the concert were available to purchase by players of Fortnite Battle Royale. The song debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Scott's third U.S. number-one. In May he collaborated for a second time with Rosalía on her track "TKN", where he raps in Spanish for the first time. Scott was on the cover of GQ's September 2020 issue, and revealed he will be releasing a collaborative album with Kid Cudi. This follows their number-one single, "The Scotts", released earlier in May.

On the second anniversary of his third studio album Astroworld, Scott teased he was working on a new project. On August 22, 2020, Scott released the single "The Plan", the theme song to Christopher Nolan's film Tenet. He released the single "Franchise" featuring rappers Young Thug and M.I.A. on September 25, 2020. The song was previously previewed on Scott and Chase B's WAV radio, titled "White Tee". It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and Scott became the first artist in Billboard chart history to have three songs debut at number one in less than a year. A remix with an additional feature from American rapper Future, was released on October 7, 2020.

From mid to late-2020, Scott began teasing his fourth studio album Utopia. On January 15, 2021, Scott released a remix of "Goosebumps" with producer HVME. After canceling the third annual Astroworld Fest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott announced the return of the festival in 2021 and expanded it to a multi day format. On April 30, Scott was collaborated with Baby Keem on the song "Durag Activity" from his album The Melodic Blue. In June, Scott announced a collaboration between Dior and Cactus Jack for the 2022 Summer Men's collection.

On August 28, Scott was featured on Kanye West's tenth studio album Donda on the song "Praise God" also with Baby Keem. On September 3, Scott appeared on Drake's Certified Lover Boy on the song "Fair Trade", which peaked in the top 10 of the Hot 100 at number three. On October 8, Don Toliver released an album Life of a Don, which featured Scott on songs titled "Flocky Flocky" and "You". On October 30, 2021, Scott closed out day 3 of Rolling Loud NYC. During the set he performed the unreleased song "Escape Plan" and a preview of another unreleased track off Utopia. In November 2021, he announced new music to be released on November 5, 2021; he was believed to release a project reportedly titled Dystopia, but instead he released a two-song single "Escape Plan / Mafia".

On April 22, 2022, Scott was featured on his first song since the Astroworld Festival crowd crush, "Hold That Heat" alongside Future and producer Southside. On April 27, 2022, the Primavera Sound festival announced that Scott is scheduled to perform at their festivals held in Buenos Aires, Santiago, and São Paulo respectively. On May 15, 2022, he performed at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. This performance was his first since the Astroworld Festival tragedy in 2021. On August 6, 2022, Scott performed his first solo show since the Astroworld Festival tragedy at The O2 Arena in London. That month, it was also announced that Scott would begin a Las Vegas nightclub residency titled "Road to Utopia" in September. On December 2, Scott appeared on Metro Boomin's second studio album Heroes & Villains in four tracks including "Raindrops (Insane)", "Trance" (alongside Young Thug), "Niagara Falls (Foot or 2)" (alongside 21 Savage), and "Lock on Me" (alongside Future), as well as background vocals on "Creepin'" (with The Weeknd and 21 Savage).

On March 19, 2023, Scott and DJ Calvin Harris performed at MDLBEAST in Jeddah, on the eve of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On July 21, 2023, Scott released the lead single to Utopia, "K-pop" with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. On July 28, Scott released his fourth studio album, Utopia, to critical acclaim, consisting of 19 tracks and alongside his debut directorial musical film Circus Maximus which he also wrote and starred in. He co-directed the film with filmmaker Harmony Korine. The 75-minute anthology film was screened in select AMC Theaters and later made available on Apple Music and YouTube. Utopia featured KayCyy, Teezo Touchdown, Bon Iver, Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Sheck Wes, Beyoncé, Rob49, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Yung Lean, Young Thug, James Blake, Westside Gunn, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future, and SZA. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming his fourth consecutive album to do so (including JackBoys), and remained at number one for four weeks after its release. The album 496,000 first-week units sold, and remained in the Top 10 for 12 weeks and in the Top 15 for 23 weeks. The album’s single “Fein” also peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. “Fein” garnered over 1.5 billion global streams. Utopia amassed 7.1 billion global streams, ranking as the best-selling hip-hop album of 2023. Scott later starred as crime lord Zion in Korine's film Aggro Dr1ft, which premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September 2023, and became publicly available through Korine's website in June 2024.

In November 2023, Scott was profiled for a GQ Men of the Year issue cover story titled “The Reemergence of Travis Scott.” In the same year, Scott collaborated with PIN-UP Magazine for a feature in which as the cover star, Scott posed with his body contorted into the 26 letters of the alphabet. To support Utopia, Scott staged a series of events, including a concert at Rome’s Circus Maximus. The subsequent “Utopia - Circus Maximus'' Tour ran into 2024 with dates at venues such as SoFi Stadium and the Circus Maximus in Rome and was reported to have grossed about $209 million, being recorded as the highest-grossing tour by a solo rapper at the time. On February 4, 2024, Scott performed at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Scott performed "My Eyes", "Fein", and "I Know ?" from Utopia, which was nominated for Rap Album of the year. His performance of "Fein" was accompanied by guest Playboi Carti, who features on the album version of the song, but caused controversy as Scott was heard referencing his 10 nominations without a victory at the award show that year.

On August 18, 2024, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Days Before Rodeo, Scott announced that a remastered version of the mixtape would be released on August 23. This marked the first time that the complete mixtape was available on streaming platforms. The mixtape would debut at number two on the Billboard 200, with 361,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week (331,000 in pure album sales)—debuting below Sabrina Carpenter's album Short n' Sweet which debuted atop the chart with 1,000 more units (362,000). Tracks from the mixtape like “Drugs You Should Try It” and “Mamacita” also charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The mixtape would drop to number 30 in its second week, and then dropped to number 106 in its third week. Days Before Rodeo would jump 105 positions to the number-one spot in its fourth week, earning 156,000 album-equivalent units—this became the ninth-largest jump to number one on the Billboard 200. In October 2024, Scott was featured in Rolling Stone again after winning the I Am Hip Hop Award at the 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards.

On January 24, 2025, Scott released the single "4×4", which would debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his fifth-number one single on the chart. A week later, he collaborated with Florence and the Machine and The Weeknd on the song "Reflections Laughing" from the latter's sixth studio album Hurry Up Tomorrow. In May of that year, Scott was announced as Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona's sponsor as part of the Spotify artist collaboration campaign. He has also performed an exclusive concert to promote the team's May 11 El Clásico match against Real Madrid. On July 10, 2025, Scott announced the long-teased compilation album JackBoys 2, released on July 13, 2025. The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 232,000 units in its first week. The album secured Travis Scott’s second #1 debut in less than a year (with single “4X4” charting earlier in January). In addition to Scott, artists such as Don Toliver, Sheck Wes, SoFaygo, and Wallie the Sensei contributed to the tape. In July 2025, Scott and several other artists on the record were featured in a cover story for The Source, which discussed the album JackBoys 2. In February 2026, producer Havoc revealed that Scott and Kanye West were working on a collaboration project. Scott was later featured on the track "Father" on West's album Bully.

In 2026, Scott was revealed to be reuniting with Christopher Nolan in his film The Odyssey, which will be released in July 2026. Scott acted as a bard in the film, which Nolan compared the story being passed on through oral poetry to his career as a rapper. He also contributed an original song, "When I'm Home," which features James Blake and the film's composer Ludwig Göransson and plays over the film's end credits.

Scott has stated that Björk is "one of my biggest inspirations for why I do what I do". He is also influenced by Bon Iver, Kid Cudi, M.I.A., Kanye West, Toro y Moi, Tame Impala, T.I., and Thom Yorke.

Scott makes heavy use of audio manipulation effects such as Auto-Tune, phasing, delays, and stereo-sculpted chorusing and harmony structures, predominantly influenced by producers Mike Dean and Alex Tumay. Scott's musical style has been characterized as "ambient"; Scott himself has said "I'm not hip-hop". Vulture described Scott's sound as "unremittingly dark, syncretic, hi-res, and above all unnatural". Scott's musical style has been described as being hip-hop, "psychedelic" trap, and pop rap. Spin magazine compared his debut mixtape Owl Pharaoh (2013) to fellow American rapper Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010).

Scott began dating media personality and businesswoman Kylie Jenner in April 2017. In February 2018, Jenner gave birth to their daughter. Jenner appeared in the music video for "Stop Trying to Be God", from Scott's third studio album Astroworld. They broke up in September 2019, but quarantined together during the COVID-19 pandemic for the sake of their daughter and ended up rekindling their relationship. On September 7, 2021, after weeks of speculation, Jenner revealed that she and Scott were expecting their second child. Jenner gave birth to their son in February 2022. The couple separated for a second time by January 2023.

Jacques Bermon Webster II was born on April 30, 1991, in Houston, Texas, the son of Wanda, who worked for AT&T, and Jacques Bermon Webster, an entrepreneur and musician. From ages one through six, Webster lived with his grandmother in South Park, Houston. The neighborhood was notorious for crime and had an impact on a young Webster, "Growing up, my grandmother stayed in the 'hood so I seen random crazy shit. [I saw] mad bums and crazy spazzed out motherfuckers, I saw people looking weird, hungry, and [grimy]. I was always like, 'I gotta get the fuck out this shit.' It gave me my edge—[it made me] who I am right now."

Webster moved to Missouri City, a middle-class suburban area bordering southwest Houston, to live with his parents. His mother worked for Apple and his father ran his own business. Webster's father is also a soul musician and his grandfather was a jazz composer. Webster attended Elkins High School and graduated at seventeen. During high school, he participated in musical theater. Webster then attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, before dropping out his second year to fully pursue his music career. During an interview, Webster revealed he chose his moniker as a combination of his favorite uncle, Travis, and the first name of one of his biggest inspirations, Kid Cudi (whose real name is Scott Mescudi).

Webster formed a duo with his longtime friend Chris Holloway known as The Graduates. In 2008, the duo released their untitled first EP on social networking website Myspace. The following year, Scott and OG Chess, one of Scott's schoolmates, formed the group The Classmates. The Classmates released two projects, with Buddy Rich in 2009 and Cruis'n USA in 2010. Scott mainly handled production work on both projects. The duo remained together until late 2012, when personal conflicts and financial disputes led to the disbandment of the group.

After leaving college, Scott moved from Houston to Washington Heights in New York City where Scott began working with friend Mike Waxx, who owned the music website Illroots. After moving to New York, Scott slept on the floor at his friend's house and spent most of his time at Just Blaze's studio. Eventually frustrated in New York and the lack of progression, Scott moved to Los Angeles, California, after only four months in the state. In Los Angeles, Webster was abandoned by his friend who had promised to help him by providing housing. His parents cut him off financially and he eventually was forced to relocate back to Houston, where his parents kicked him out of their home. Webster moved back to Los Angeles once again and began to sleep on the couch of a friend who studied at University of Southern California. Atlanta-based rapper and owner of Grand Hustle Records, T.I. would later hear one of Webster's productions, titled "Lights (Love Sick)". While in Los Angeles, T.I.'s representative contacted Webster, asking him to attend a studio for a meeting. During the meeting, T.I. freestyled over "Animal", one of Webster's productions.

Scott's first solo full-length project is his mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh, which was set to be released as a free download in 2012. However, the project was delayed, and was announced to be slated for a later release. The project was later re-created by Kanye West and Mike Dean, and was then again delayed for sample clearance issues. In promotion Scott would release the track, "Blocka La Flame", a remix of fellow GOOD Music label-mate Pusha T's single "Blocka" (which features production and vocals from Scott). The song was produced by Young Chop, with additional production by Scott himself, alongside Mike Dean. On March 22, 2013, Scott released the music video for a song titled "Quintana", set to appear on Owl Pharaoh. On March 27, XXL revealed that Scott was a member of their Freshman Class of 2013. Later on March 29, 2013, following his interview with British disc jockey, DJ Semtex, Scott premiered a snippet of his commercial debut single, titled "Upper Echelon", featuring 2 Chainz and T.I. On April 2, 2013, Scott stated Owl Pharaoh was his official debut mixtape and would be released on the iTunes Store on May 21, 2013. On April 23, 2013, "Upper Echelon" was sent to urban contemporary radio.

On March 13, 2014, Scott performed a new song, tentatively titled "1975" featuring Big Sean, from his upcoming project at the time, at the Texan music festival South by Southwest (SXSW). Scott later confirmed via his Twitter account that the song is not called "1975", and would be included on his second mixtape, titled Days Before Rodeo. He would later take to his Twitter account to announce Rodeo, as the official title for his major-label debut studio album. On May 5, 2014, Scott released the full version of the song, with its new title "Don't Play", featuring a sample of the song "M.O.N.E.Y" by the English rock band the 1975. On July 11, 2014, "Don't Play" was officially released as the lead single from Days Before Rodeo, via digital distribution.

Following the success of Days Before Rodeo, Scott announced that he would headline a concert tour, called The Rodeo Tour, with rapper Young Thug and producer Metro Boomin. The tour started on March 1, 2015, in Santa Ana, California, and ended on April 1, 2015, in Portland, Oregon. The tour ran through major cities and artists such as Kanye West, Chris Brown, Wale and Birdman made special guest appearances in certain cities.

Rodeo was released on September 4, 2015, by Grand Hustle and Epic Records. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200, selling 85,000 album-equivalent units in the first week. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Juicy J, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Swae Lee, Chief Keef, Justin Bieber, Young Thug and Toro y Moi, and includes production from Mike Dean, Kanye West, WondaGurl, Suber, DJ Dahi, Metro Boomin, 1500 or Nothin', Sonny Digital, Southside, Terrace Martin, Zaytoven, Pharrell Williams and Scott himself, among others. The album was supported by two singles: "3500" featuring Future and 2 Chainz, and "Antidote". The latter became his highest-charting single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 16**,** and achieving a septuple Platinum certification by the RIAA. Rodeo received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Rap Albums chart.

On January 4, 2016, Scott announced that he had a new studio album on the way. On March 29, 2016, 300 Entertainment executive Lyor Cohen, revealed that Scott and Young Thug were releasing a single together and called Scott's upcoming album a "classic". On April 7, 2016, Scott previewed a single with Young Thug at one of his shows. On May 17, 2016, Scott announced that the title of his second album would be Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, while also confirming the title for his third album to be Astroworld. On June 3, 2016, the collaborative single between Thug and Scott was released, titled "Pick Up the Phone". The single, which also features vocals from Quavo of Atlanta-based rap trio Migos, reached number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

On August 31, 2016, Scott announced that Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight was finally finished in a post on Instagram. Scott premiered the album on his third episode of .wav radio on September 2, 2016, and was later released on iTunes and Apple Music. On September 11, 2016, the album became Scott's first number one album on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album’s single “Pick Up the Phone” (with Young Thug) peaked at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified quadruple Platinum. A day later, Universal Music Publishing Group's CEO, Jody Gerson announced that the label signed a worldwide deal with Scott.

In the same episode Scott premiered Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, he also announced that he would be executive producing on Kanye West's Cruel Winter, a follow-up to his G.O.O.D. Music label's debut compilation Cruel Summer. In the episode he described the upcoming album as, "very youthful, straight to the point, like the illest ever, man, like the illest album".

Scott performed at All-Star Weekend on February 16, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana at Champion Square. He also performed at New Orleans BUKU Music + Art Project festival on March 10, 2017. On March 5, Scott announced a concert tour called "Birds Eye View". The next day, the dates and cities for the tour were unveiled, with it beginning on March 10, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and coming to an end on June 2, in Eugene, Oregon. In the same month, Scott was also featured alongside American rapper Quavo from the hip-hop group Migos on Canadian rapper Drake's single "Portland", from Drake's commercial mixtape, More Life. The song peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first top ten song as a featured artist. In March 2017, Scott announced he would be launching his own imprint, under the name of Cactus Jack Records.

On April 3, 2017, it was reported Scott had been working on a collaborative studio album with Quavo, potentially to be released later in 2017. Speaking to GQ, he confirmed: 'The Quavo album is coming soon. I'm dropping new music soon. You know how I do it though: I like surprises. In addition to the collaborative album, Scott announced his third studio album Astroworld, named after the defunct Houston theme park of the same name, was nearing completion and would most likely be released in 2017.

On May 16, 2017, Scott released three new tracks on SoundCloud, after teasing on social media for some time. The tracks were named "A Man", "Green & Purple (featuring Playboi Carti)", and "Butterfly Effect". The latter was also released on every other streaming service, as the only track. On June 15, 2017, Scott announced he would be doing a European leg of the "Birds Eye View Tour". The European leg started on the June 23 in Paris, and concluded on July 9 in Turku, Finland. This leg was mainly festival sets or in smaller club settings. The music video for "Butterfly Effect" was released on July 14, 2017. On August 10, 2017, Scott tweeted "ALBUM MODE" as he had just finished the "DAMN. Tour" as a supporting act for Kendrick Lamar, the night before. This tweet signified that he was now working on his album AstroWorld full-time. On August 27, 2017, Scott performed with Thirty Seconds to Mars at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards on their single "Walk On Water".

On September 18, 2017, Quavo and Migos did an interview, in which Quavo stated that his album with Scott was coming "real soon". He also stated that he and Scott had over 20 records ready. In October 2017, Scott was featured in a special piece titled "Deserve", by Chinese born Canadian rapper Kris Wu. On December 7, 2017, a clip of Quavo being interviewed by Zane Lowe was posted on the official Twitter account for Beats 1. When asked about the title of their upcoming project, he confirmed it would be Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.

On December 6, 2017, Scott was featured on fellow American rapper and singer Trippie Redd's single "Dark Knight Dummo", the lead single from the latter's debut studio album, Life's a Trip. The song peaked at 72 on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 21, 2017, Scott and Quavo released their collaborative studio album, Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, under the name "Huncho Jack", a name which comes from Quavo's nickname "Huncho" and a play on Scott's first name "Jack". The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and had seven tracks chart on the Billboard Hot 100. After the release of Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, Webster was spotted in the studio a lot more frequently and Billboard slated an expected first quarter release for AstroWorld.

On May 4, 2018, Scott released a single titled "Watch" featuring American rappers Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West. The single was released as promotional material for his third studio album Astroworld. Astroworld was released on August 3, 2018, to critical acclaim, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 537,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, making it one of the biggest hip-hop debuts of the decade. "Sicko Mode", the album's second single, peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Scott's highest charting solo single, earning 15x Platinum certification and being nominated for two Grammys. On the same month of the album's launch, Scott announced that he was going to launch Astroworld Festival, a music festival with the same name as the album. The festival took place on November 17. On November 2, 2018, Scott was featured on five tracks of Metro Boomin's debut studio album, Not All Heroes Wear Capes: "Overdue", "Dreamcatcher" (alongside Swae Lee), "Up to Something" (alongside Young Thug), "Only 1 (Interlude)", and "No More" (alongside Kodak Black and 21 Savage), as well as background vocals on "Space Cadet" (featuring Gunna). In December, Billboard reported that Scott was to make a guest appearance at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show during Maroon 5's set.

In December 2018, Scott was also featured in a cover story for Rolling Stone titled “Travis Scott: In Orbit With Rap's Newest Superstar.”

On April 18, 2019, Scott released a single with SZA and The Weeknd for the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. It is titled "Power is Power" and is a reference to a scene that took place in the first episode of the show's second season. The track is the second song on the Game of Thrones soundtrack album entitled For the Throne. On May 23, 2019, Scott was featured alongside J. Cole on Young Thug's single, "The London", which later appeared as the lead single on Thug's debut studio album, So Much Fun. On August 28, 2019, Scott's documentary film, Look Mom I Can Fly, was released on Netflix. On October 4, 2019, Scott released a single, "Highest in the Room", which debuted and peaked at number one on the Hot 100, being his first song to debut at the top and his second number one following "Sicko Mode" in 2018. The same month, Scott was also featured on the remix of Young Thug's single, "Hot" with Gunna, who was featured on the original song as well. The song was later added to the deluxe edition of So Much Fun in December of that year. Scott also was featured on the track "Hop Off a Jet" from the deluxe edition.

On December 2, 2019, Scott announced a compilation album with his Cactus Jack label members, consisting of Don Toliver, Sheck Wes and producer Chase B (collectively known as JackBoys, titled JackBoys. On December 24, Scott revealed the album's release date via Instagram. The album was released on December 27, 2019, and featured a remix of "Highest in the Room" featuring Spanish singer Rosalía and American rapper Lil Baby, the latter's verse being leaked months prior. On the same day, Scott released the music video for "Gang Gang" performed by Wes, with uncredited vocals and cameo appearances from Scott, Toliver, and rapper Luxury Tax 50. On December 30, 2019, Scott released the music video for "Gatti", featuring Pop Smoke. On March 20, 2020, Scott released the music video for "Out West", featuring Young Thug. The single “Out West” was also the subject of a viral TikTok dance challenge in 2020. The album also featured Scott’s second collaboration with Don Tolliver, “What to Do?” After the label compilation’s release, the album JackBoys topped the Billboard 200. In 2020, Scott became the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to debut three songs at number one within a 12‑month span with “Highest in the Room,” “The Scotts” (with Kid Cudi) and “Franchise.” The project was supported by a short film blending surreal visuals with cinematic storytelling.

Scott performed five virtual live shows in the video game Fortnite Battle Royale from April 23 to 25, 2020 with visuals based on his Astroworld tour. It received more than 27 million viewers and boosted the sales of Fortnite-branded Cactus Jack products such as action figures. The performance also included the premiere of his new song with Kid Cudi, who released the song, "The Scotts", as a duo under the same name. Tying with the performance, numerous cosmetic items for player avatars based on Scott and the concert were available to purchase by players of Fortnite Battle Royale. The song debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Scott's third U.S. number-one. In May he collaborated for a second time with Rosalía on her track "TKN", where he raps in Spanish for the first time. Scott was on the cover of GQ's September 2020 issue, and revealed he will be releasing a collaborative album with Kid Cudi. This follows their number-one single, "The Scotts", released earlier in May.

On the second anniversary of his third studio album Astroworld, Scott teased he was working on a new project. On August 22, 2020, Scott released the single "The Plan", the theme song to Christopher Nolan's film Tenet. He released the single "Franchise" featuring rappers Young Thug and M.I.A. on September 25, 2020. The song was previously previewed on Scott and Chase B's WAV radio, titled "White Tee". It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and Scott became the first artist in Billboard chart history to have three songs debut at number one in less than a year. A remix with an additional feature from American rapper Future, was released on October 7, 2020.

From mid to late-2020, Scott began teasing his fourth studio album Utopia. On January 15, 2021, Scott released a remix of "Goosebumps" with producer HVME. After canceling the third annual Astroworld Fest due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott announced the return of the festival in 2021 and expanded it to a multi day format. On April 30, Scott was collaborated with Baby Keem on the song "Durag Activity" from his album The Melodic Blue. In June, Scott announced a collaboration between Dior and Cactus Jack for the 2022 Summer Men's collection.

On August 28, Scott was featured on Kanye West's tenth studio album Donda on the song "Praise God" also with Baby Keem. On September 3, Scott appeared on Drake's Certified Lover Boy on the song "Fair Trade", which peaked in the top 10 of the Hot 100 at number three. On October 8, Don Toliver released an album Life of a Don, which featured Scott on songs titled "Flocky Flocky" and "You". On October 30, 2021, Scott closed out day 3 of Rolling Loud NYC. During the set he performed the unreleased song "Escape Plan" and a preview of another unreleased track off Utopia. In November 2021, he announced new music to be released on November 5, 2021; he was believed to release a project reportedly titled Dystopia, but instead he released a two-song single "Escape Plan / Mafia".

On April 22, 2022, Scott was featured on his first song since the Astroworld Festival crowd crush, "Hold That Heat" alongside Future and producer Southside. On April 27, 2022, the Primavera Sound festival announced that Scott is scheduled to perform at their festivals held in Buenos Aires, Santiago, and São Paulo respectively. On May 15, 2022, he performed at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. This performance was his first since the Astroworld Festival tragedy in 2021. On August 6, 2022, Scott performed his first solo show since the Astroworld Festival tragedy at The O2 Arena in London. That month, it was also announced that Scott would begin a Las Vegas nightclub residency titled "Road to Utopia" in September. On December 2, Scott appeared on Metro Boomin's second studio album Heroes & Villains in four tracks including "Raindrops (Insane)", "Trance" (alongside Young Thug), "Niagara Falls (Foot or 2)" (alongside 21 Savage), and "Lock on Me" (alongside Future), as well as background vocals on "Creepin'" (with The Weeknd and 21 Savage).

On March 19, 2023, Scott and DJ Calvin Harris performed at MDLBEAST in Jeddah, on the eve of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On July 21, 2023, Scott released the lead single to Utopia, "K-pop" with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. On July 28, Scott released his fourth studio album, Utopia, to critical acclaim, consisting of 19 tracks and alongside his debut directorial musical film Circus Maximus which he also wrote and starred in. He co-directed the film with filmmaker Harmony Korine. The 75-minute anthology film was screened in select AMC Theaters and later made available on Apple Music and YouTube. Utopia featured KayCyy, Teezo Touchdown, Bon Iver, Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Sheck Wes, Beyoncé, Rob49, 21 Savage, the Weeknd, Yung Lean, Young Thug, James Blake, Westside Gunn, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future, and SZA. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming his fourth consecutive album to do so (including JackBoys), and remained at number one for four weeks after its release. The album 496,000 first-week units sold, and remained in the Top 10 for 12 weeks and in the Top 15 for 23 weeks. The album’s single “Fein” also peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. “Fein” garnered over 1.5 billion global streams. Utopia amassed 7.1 billion global streams, ranking as the best-selling hip-hop album of 2023. Scott later starred as crime lord Zion in Korine's film Aggro Dr1ft, which premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September 2023, and became publicly available through Korine's website in June 2024.

In November 2023, Scott was profiled for a GQ Men of the Year issue cover story titled “The Reemergence of Travis Scott.” In the same year, Scott collaborated with PIN-UP Magazine for a feature in which as the cover star, Scott posed with his body contorted into the 26 letters of the alphabet. To support Utopia, Scott staged a series of events, including a concert at Rome’s Circus Maximus. The subsequent “Utopia - Circus Maximus'' Tour ran into 2024 with dates at venues such as SoFi Stadium and the Circus Maximus in Rome and was reported to have grossed about $209 million, being recorded as the highest-grossing tour by a solo rapper at the time. On February 4, 2024, Scott performed at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Scott performed "My Eyes", "Fein", and "I Know ?" from Utopia, which was nominated for Rap Album of the year. His performance of "Fein" was accompanied by guest Playboi Carti, who features on the album version of the song, but caused controversy as Scott was heard referencing his 10 nominations without a victory at the award show that year.

On August 18, 2024, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Days Before Rodeo, Scott announced that a remastered version of the mixtape would be released on August 23. This marked the first time that the complete mixtape was available on streaming platforms. The mixtape would debut at number two on the Billboard 200, with 361,000 album-equivalent units sold in its first week (331,000 in pure album sales)—debuting below Sabrina Carpenter's album Short n' Sweet which debuted atop the chart with 1,000 more units (362,000). Tracks from the mixtape like “Drugs You Should Try It” and “Mamacita” also charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The mixtape would drop to number 30 in its second week, and then dropped to number 106 in its third week. Days Before Rodeo would jump 105 positions to the number-one spot in its fourth week, earning 156,000 album-equivalent units—this became the ninth-largest jump to number one on the Billboard 200. In October 2024, Scott was featured in Rolling Stone again after winning the I Am Hip Hop Award at the 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards.

On January 24, 2025, Scott released the single "4×4", which would debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his fifth-number one single on the chart. A week later, he collaborated with Florence and the Machine and The Weeknd on the song "Reflections Laughing" from the latter's sixth studio album Hurry Up Tomorrow. In May of that year, Scott was announced as Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona's sponsor as part of the Spotify artist collaboration campaign. He has also performed an exclusive concert to promote the team's May 11 El Clásico match against Real Madrid. On July 10, 2025, Scott announced the long-teased compilation album JackBoys 2, released on July 13, 2025. The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 232,000 units in its first week. The album secured Travis Scott’s second #1 debut in less than a year (with single “4X4” charting earlier in January). In addition to Scott, artists such as Don Toliver, Sheck Wes, SoFaygo, and Wallie the Sensei contributed to the tape. In July 2025, Scott and several other artists on the record were featured in a cover story for The Source, which discussed the album JackBoys 2. In February 2026, producer Havoc revealed that Scott and Kanye West were working on a collaboration project. Scott was later featured on the track "Father" on West's album Bully.

In 2026, Scott was revealed to be reuniting with Christopher Nolan in his film The Odyssey, which will be released in July 2026. Scott acted as a bard in the film, which Nolan compared the story being passed on through oral poetry to his career as a rapper. He also contributed an original song, "When I'm Home," which features James Blake and the film's composer Ludwig Göransson and plays over the film's end credits.

Scott has stated that Björk is "one of my biggest inspirations for why I do what I do". He is also influenced by Bon Iver, Kid Cudi, M.I.A., Kanye West, Toro y Moi, Tame Impala, T.I., and Thom Yorke.

Scott makes heavy use of audio manipulation effects such as Auto-Tune, phasing, delays, and stereo-sculpted chorusing and harmony structures, predominantly influenced by producers Mike Dean and Alex Tumay. Scott's musical style has been characterized as "ambient"; Scott himself has said "I'm not hip-hop". Vulture described Scott's sound as "unremittingly dark, syncretic, hi-res, and above all unnatural". Scott's musical style has been described as being hip-hop, "psychedelic" trap, and pop rap. Spin magazine compared his debut mixtape Owl Pharaoh (2013) to fellow American rapper Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (2010).

Scott began dating media personality and businesswoman Kylie Jenner in April 2017. In February 2018, Jenner gave birth to their daughter. Jenner appeared in the music video for "Stop Trying to Be God", from Scott's third studio album Astroworld. They broke up in September 2019, but quarantined together during the COVID-19 pandemic for the sake of their daughter and ended up rekindling their relationship. On September 7, 2021, after weeks of speculation, Jenner revealed that she and Scott were expecting their second child. Jenner gave birth to their son in February 2022. The couple separated for a second time by January 2023.