When rappers jump to the major leagues, it’s not uncommon for their earlier work to be scrubbed from the internet—for all the rough-around-the-edges mixtapes and low-budget videos to be replaced by the music industry machine’s carefully produced branding. But scroll back a decade on Migos’ official YouTube page—past the big-budget Soul Train parody of “Walk It Talk It,” the Revenant cosplay of “T-Shirt,” and their original song for Mark Wahlberg’s CIA thriller Mile 22—and you’ll still find evidence of the group’s humble beginnings. The video for 2012’s “Takeoff,” one of their earliest recordings, is a far cry from where the trio would end up: The fuzzy camcorder footage simply features a young Takeoff and Offset turning up to their own track in front of a reasonably sized fish tank in a nondescript room. But even as the scale of Migos’ success dramatically changed, the energy and exuberance remained the same.
The impact of Migos generally and Takeoff specifically on the last decade of rap is incalculable, and what his loss will mean for the group, for Atlanta, and for hip-hop as a whole is equally hard to quantify. The last few years have been filled with so many shocking and horrific deaths that are difficult for rap fans to process, and this one is no different. According to reports, the 28-year-old born Kirsnick Khari Ball was shot and killed at a Houston bowling alley early this morning after an altercation broke out while he was playing dice.
Though Takeoff was more reserved in public and not quite as visible a celebrity as fellow Migos Quavo and Offset, his rapping was as outspoken as it gets, undeniably relentless and deceptively complex, the product of an analytical mind. In many ways, he was the group’s anchor: While Quavo brought a talent for flashy hooks, and Offset a Southern flair, Takeoff was the technical glue, a stealthy operator who often moved under the radar but whose verses could unexpectedly blow your mind.
What became known as the iconic “Migos flow” was defined in large part by Takeoff’s razor-blade precision, and his unique ability to shift his speed and cadence without losing any of the sharpness of his rhymes. Their rapid-fire patter wasn’t a completely new invention—Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony had developed similar deliveries years before—but the trio’s densely packed bars and chopper-like flows were remarkably different from what most Atlanta rappers were doing in the early 2010s. Adept at both earworm hooks and dazzling technical fireworks, they were simultaneously three stooges and three wise men, gifted but never self-serious, completely in sync the way only family can be.
Though his delivery was always confident, Takeoff especially came into his own while shouldering a greater part of the group’s load, during Offset’s incarceration in 2015, right as Migos began making its first serious inroads to mainstream success. On a performance of “Hannah Montana” with a string ensemble from that year, Takeoff effortlessly switched from a hype man underlining Quavo’s bars to the lead performer rattling off his own staccato flow. Never one to hog the spotlight, he knew when to step into position as a commanding officer and when to slide into a back-up role, using his own voice to accentuate the delivery of his comrades.
A track like 2014’s six-and-a-half-minute marathon “Cross the Country” shows Takeoff at his most unrestrained, with a titanic opening verse that sets the stage for some of the group’s most hardcore rapping. Though not a big hit like “Versace” or “Bad and Boujee,” “Cross the Country” is in many ways the definitive Migos track, with tongue-twisting cypher-style verses supplemented by an almost minimalist hook.
On hits like “Handsome and Wealthy,” Quavo and Offset brought the pathos, but Takeoff came with the bars—intricately constructed couplets bulging with internal rhymes: “They say I’m picky cause all my bitches exquisite/I’m in some vintage Givenchy smokin’ a Philly.” He wasn’t just all quick triplets, either. On the Eazy-E riff “Highway 85,” from Migos’ 2015 debut album Yung Rich Nation, the group swerved into an unexpectedly old-school lane, while Takeoff embraced the natural rasp of his voice for a little night-time nursery-rhyme storytelling.
Though Migos had been on a hiatus as of late, it’s been less than a month since the release of Takeoff and Quavo’s celebratory new album as a duo, Only Built for Infinity Linxs. And on an episode of the podcast Drink Champs from only a week ago, Takeoff spoke of coming for the credit he’s long been due: “I’m chill, I’m laid-back, but it’s time to pop it. It’s time to give me my flowers. I don’t want them laid down when I’m not here.” He said those words with excitement and enthusiasm in his voice, looking forward to the future.
