Rapper Travis Scott’s ties with urban music magazine Complex became strained in 2015, after the publication revealed details of his relationship with Rihanna.
This was revealed by former editor Lawrence Schlossman in his Throwing Fits podcast as he traded stories with co-host James Harris and their guest, fellow journalist Jonah Weiner.
“I broke the news about him and Rihanna, which they told me not to do,’ said Schlossman.
“Apparently, what [Complex editor Joe] LaPuma, our boy Joe The Puma, told me was that it hurt Complex’s relationship with Travis. This was in 2015/16 I wrote this. But apparently, for the next couple of years, he would complain about that.”
According to Schlossman, while the news might not have been particularly embarrassing for Scott, then one of the most promising young rappers, it was for Rihanna who had already been a superstar for a decade.
“It’s not because he’s like, “Don’t tell anyone I’m smashing Rihanna.” It’s because Rihanna’s like, “Don’t tell anyone that I’m smashing Travis Scott, please.” [It’s] obviously embarrassing as f***,” he said.
At the time, Schlossman wrote that Scott had flaked on a scheduled interview time because he was “holed up with Rihanna, his recently rumored love interest/girlfriend/friend-with-benefit.”
Later, when the two men managed to sit down for a chat, Schlossman wrote that Scott described Rihanna as his “muse.”
“Travis avoids directly putting a label on his budding relationship, laughing and imploring me to not ‘do [me] like that, man’ when I ask about it as delicately as possible,” Schlossman wrote.
He added that, upon seeing a photo of Rihanna on his phone, “[Scott kissed] his right index and middle finger and then [touched] the low-res image of Rihanna’s face, caressing the screen, and glowing with pride.”
