Migos rapper, Quavo, has been silent in the days since the death of his nephew and bandmate, Takeoff. After friends and family mourned the loss of the 28-year-old rapper in a ceremony held on Friday (Nov. 11), Quavo, born Quavious Keyate Marshall, has said goodbye with a heartfelt tribute.
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“It’s so hard to tell you Ima miss you because you always with me and we did everything together,” the artist wrote to Takeoff in a post on Instagram. “Since we were kids you been by my side, lookin up at me, them eyes waiting on me to make the next move.. then you followed up right behind me. You always made sure I did it first so you can do it right with me. You never competed with me, we were always on [the] same team. You hated playing against me because I was always playing too hard or too ruff then I can hear my mama say ‘sonnnn not too ruff’ cuz I didn’t like to lose!”
Takeoff, born Kirshnik Khari Ball, was shot and killed at a Houston, Texas bowling alley in the early morning hours of Nov. 1. An altercation reportedly broke out while he and Quavo were playing dice and someone opened fire. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene having reportedly been shot in or around the head. Quavo was unharmed.
“Super quiet though, quietest in the room but paid attention to everything going on in the room, always been like that!!!! Nothing ever really bothered Take and he didn’t bother anybody,” Quavo continued in his tribute, remembering the person Takeoff was. “He never got mad, never raised his voice, and when he did, he silenced the room because what Take said was law and he wasn’t changing his mind fa na, not even Unc could, you just gotta let em cool off for bout 30 mins.” Quavo described him as “by far the funniest person” with “a REAL passion for music.”
Takeoff began rapping with Quavo, and his cousin, Offset, from a young age, and in 2011, the trio released their debut mixtape as Migos. Takeoff and Quavo had recently released music as a duo, called Unc & Phew. Their latest music video, “Messy,” dropped Monday (Oct. 31), hours before Takeoff would be fatally shot.
Quavo continued his message, adding: “This whole time I’ve been trying to figure out what you really are to me because nephew wasn’t it. We hated that word “nephew” or when they said “Unc and Phew” cuz we always knew we were way closer than that and it made me feel old too. But I knew you weren’t by brother cuz you are my sister’s son … Now I finally get it … You are OUR angel.”
Read Quavo’s full tribute, below.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Global Citizen
