Long before Travis Scott appeared in The Odyssey, the rapper had already experienced a memorable connection to Homer’s epic poem — after getting in trouble with his grandmother for not actually reading it.
In a new Variety cover story, Scott revealed that his paternal grandmother, Bernice Webster, an English professor, assigned the eighth-century BC poem as part of his summer reading when he was younger.
Instead of fully completing the assignment, the UTOPIA rapper admitted that he rushed through it because he wasn’t interested in the material.
“That summer, she made me do an essay on the book, and I did some CliffsNotes bullshit,” Scott told the publication. “I got a whoopin’ because I lied about reading it.”
Years later, Scott would go on to play a bard in Christopher Nolan’s IMAX adaptation of The Odyssey, which arrived in theaters last Friday (July 17). The casting has been a full-circle moment for Grandma Webster.
“She’s like, ‘See? That’s why I made you read that book; now you’re in this movie,'” Scott said. “It’s actually crazy.”
The rapper now plans to watch the film with his grandmother, his mother Wanda Webster, and his maternal grandmother, Sealie Wood, with plans to “shut down” a theater so his family can enjoy the experience together.
Scott’s casting was a deliberate decision by Nolan. In a May interview with TIME, the filmmaker explained that he wanted “to nod toward the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap.”
Scott also contributed the song “When I’m Home,” which was created alongside James Blake and Ludwig Göransson, to the film, marking six years since his single “The Plan” appeared on the soundtrack for Tenet, another Christopher Nolan-directed movie.
