Here, Travis Scott pays homage to Dem Franchize Boyz's 2004 crunk song, "White Tee."
Yup, in my white tee, yeah
Call up Hype Williams for the hype, please
Though it only reached #79 on the Hot 100 at the time, the song was influential in popularizing plain white shirts in southern hip-hop culture. Several artists have since reused the lyrics, including Playboi Carti on his 2017 single "Woke Up Like This."
The song title not only pays tribute to Dem Franchize Boyz but also is a reference to McDonald's franchises. In September 2020, Scott joined with McDonald's to launch a limited-edition meal in the fast food company's restaurants in North America, along with a line of McDonald's and Cactus Jack-branded merchandise. Released amidst Travis Scott's collaboration with McDonald's, the Houston rapper had teased the song as "White Tee" in the commercial for his Travis Scott meal on September 8, 2020. During the final merchandise drop from his McDonald's hookup, La Flame hid a purchase link to the song, letting fans pre-order the single for just 69 cents.
Scott resists the temptation to go down the corporate tie-in route on the banger. Rather than name-checking his McDonald's Travis Scott meal, the rapper keeps it quintessential La Flame with flexes about his wealth and lifestyle. His frequent collaborator, Young Thug, and the British/Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A join him on the track.
Speaking on Zane Lowe's New Music Daily show on Apple Music, Scott explained how he came to work with M.I.A. "She reached out to me for something for her album and we tracked it in London," he said. "She's just one of my favourite artists as humans. So it was just amazing. When I finished ['Franchise'], I couldn't think of nobody else that could probably just body this s--t. You know what I'm saying? Body this s--t like as hard as like anyone else, any other rapper, any other artist."
Travis Scott produced the bass-heavy track with Teddy Walton (Goldlink's "
Crew," Post Malone's "
Spoil My Night") and his DJ, Chase B.
During her verse, M.I.A shouts out New York hip-hop artist Sheck Wes, who is signed to Cactus Jack.
Make 'em get me Chippi Chippi
Chippi Chippi is a term that means leaving somewhere angrily to smoke weed. Sheck Wes popularized the phrase on his 2018 track "Chippi Chippi." Following M.I.A.'s line, that's Wes who says, "Yeah."
Travis Scott co-directed the fever-dreamed video with White Trash Tyler. The Canadian filmmaker also shot Scott's documentary
Look Mom I Can Fly and several Jackboys clips, including the ones for "
Gang Gang," "
Gatti" and "
Out West."
Scott and Tyler filmed part of the clip inside Michael Jordan's Illinois mansion; the basketball icon himself appears at the beginning of the visual. Why Michael Jordan? The simple answer is that the NBA legend was the last celebrity to have his own meal on the McDonald's menu prior to Scott. The McJordan Special comprised a quarter pounder cheeseburger, raw onion slices, pickles, bacon and a special BBQ sauce in a sesame seed bun. Released in 1992, only franchises in Chicago had access to the special-edition creation.
Scott partnered with IMAX to make the global debut of his "Franchise" music video at select theaters during the September 24, 2020 night showings of Christopher Nolan's movie
Tenet. Scott recorded "
The Plan" for the soundtrack of Nolan's movie.
The song gave Travis Scott his fourth US #1, following the Drake hookup "
Sicko Mode" in 2018, "
Highest In The Room" in 2019, and his Kid Cudi collaboration "
The Scotts" in 2020. Young Thug previously topped the chart when he featured on Camila Cabello's "
Havana," while this represented M.I.A.'s first visit to the summit.
Travis Scott dropped
a remix with an additional feature from Future on October 7, 2020. Future's bars find him flexing about his extravagant lifestyle filled with luxury watches. M.I.A.'s verse from the original song is dropped to make room, though she still appears briefly on the second verse. Young Thug's verse remains unchanged and Scott adds a new outro.
