SICKO MODE

Travis Scott is joined on this jittery, hectic cut by Drake and Swae Lee. The Houston rapper recruited a quartet of producers (Hit-Boy, OZ, Cubeatz, and Tay Keith) for the song, which features three abrupt beat change-ups. The track starts off with Drake ad-libbing over an organ groove, but just as he's getting going, The OVO MC announces mid-verse he's passing the baton to Scott. La Flame switches up the beat and goes a completely different route. Gone on you with the pick and roll Young La Flame, he in sicko mode "Sicko," or "6icko", is a term used to describe Drake's friends. It is derived from his hometown Toronto's area codes, 416 and 647, which is often used by OVO Crew members in their songs. Drake previously referred to himself as a "sicko" on his 2016 single "Summer Sixteen". However, in this instance Drake uses it as a reference to the beast mode that he and Travis tap in to in comparison to the weaker modes of their competition. Travis Scott spends the next few minutes rapping a couple of verses aided by Swae Lee over a hard and funky instrumental. Drake eventually returns, following another beat change, to complete what he started, before Scott polishes off the track with some concluding rhymes.

This is the third collaboration between Travis Scott and Drake. They first worked together on Drizzy's 2015 If You're Reading This It's Too Late track "Company." Two years later Drake recruited Scott again for his More Life song "Portland." "Sicko Mode" also represents the third collaboration between Travis Scott and Swae Lee. They first worked together on La Flame's 2015 Rodeo track "Nightcrawler". Three years later, Scott jumped on "Close" a cut from Rae Sremmurd's, SR3MM album.

Throughout Astroworld, there are tributes to artists from Travis Scott's place of birth. During this song's bridge, there are sampled vocals from the late Big Hawk, who was shot and killed in Houston in 2006.