Rapper Travis Scott is strengthing his philanthropy arm with more fully paid scholarships for students of HBCUs.
The “SICKO MODE” rapper was one of five recipients announced last week for the first RAD — Red Carpet Advocacy — impact awards, Yahoo News reports. As part of the accolade, Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation will receive contributions from Amazon in order to fund several scholarships for HBCU students.
His new HBCU scholarships come after he took to Twitter last October to announce that he would be paying the tuition for five HBCU scholars. In addition to his investment into the HBCU community, Scott is pouring into his hometown, Houston, through a new youth education center that will help foster the next generation of creators coming out of the South.
The Grammy-nominated rapper who co-parents his 3-year-old daughter Stormi Webster with billionaire beauty mogul Kylie Jenner explained how determined he was to help contribute to the HBCU community due to his legacy and understanding the financial need for some students.“I felt like sharing inspiration, and sharing knowledge is key. It’s one of the main goals,” the rapper told the Associated Press. My grandfather, on my dad’s side, was a dean of the graduate school at Prairie View A&M. My grandmother taught at Prairie View, and my dad and all my uncles went to Prairie View, and I was supposed to go there. But I went to another school (the University of Texas, San Antonio). That desire of education was always drawn into me through my grandparents, my dad and my mom.”
“When we did the past scholarships, the freshmen couldn’t even go to campus because of the pandemic. They couldn’t even enjoy the campus life, and their parents probably couldn’t go to work. I just wanted to help,” he said. “The connectivity between that and my grandfather, and helping some of these kids who come from the same community I come from, it’s important. Especially some of these kids that go to HBCUs. My sister goes to Howard University, and my brother goes to Prairie View A&M. A lot of people will get a lot of stuff done if the hardship wasn’t on them. So anytime you can come through and take that burden off their back, it’s amazing.”
His hopes are to continue tripling the amount of HBCU scholarships he gives out each year. Between his scholarship program and upcoming youth center, Travis Scott is proving why he’s the “highest in the room.”