A celebrity-studded crowd gathered in the Atlanta Hawks home arena Friday to remember slain rapper Takeoff, a member of the hip-hop trio Migos.
Takeoff, born Kirsnick Khari Ball, was shot and killed earlier this month outside a Houston bowling alley.
The surviving members of Migos, Takeoff uncle Quavo and cousin Offset, were part of a crowd that included Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Yolanda Adams, CeeLo Green, and Teyana Taylor.
Drake delivered a eulogy comparing himself and Migos to the Rat Pack. Bieber (who did an acoustic version of his song “Ghost”) and Chloe Bailey had musical performances in Takeoff’s memory.
A social media clip of Drake’s eulogy saw him hail Takeoff as “Forever balanced. Whenever he would take his shades off, he had this thing about him that I loved – no matter what was going on around us he was, like, always kinda squinting, but like his eyes were wide open.”
Video of Quavo’s eulogy has circulated on social media. He said Takeoff had “been by my side, looking up at me with them eyes, same eyes you got as you got as my sister, 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 could do it right with me.”
Quavo, just three years Takeoff’s senior, continued, “You never competed with me. We was always on the same team, ‘cause you hated playing against me ‘cause I always played too hard or too rough. And I could hear Momma saying: “Not too rough, son,” ‘cause I ain’t like to lose.”
Offset memorialized his cousin, whom he credited with having “changed the culture of music forever.” He was frequently overcome with emotion.
Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas, whose record label launched Migos, also gave speeches, as did Takeoff’s mother and siblings.
According to local Houston, Texas news reports, Takeoff was at the 810 Billiards & Bowling establishment with his Quavo when the shooting started around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police initially confirmed only that the two musicians were among the more than 40 people at the entertainment hall, and that one man had suffered a gunshot wound to the head or neck.
Houston police later confirmed that Takeoff had died at the scene. Two other people suffered apparently non-life-threatening injuries; Quavo was not injured.
Houston’s KTRK described the event as a private party with about 40 to 50 people in attendance was being held until 1 a.m., but that the party carried over until about 2 a.m.
Migos launched its career in in 2008 when the three rappers from Lawrenceville, Georgia — in addition to Takeoff and Quavo, the group included cousin Kiari Kendrell Cephus, who goes by the stage name Offset.
The trio released the single “Versace” in 2013, taken from their mixtape Y.R.N., and followed up with singles “Fight Night” (2014) and “Look at My Dab” (2015). They reached their widest success with four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 entries “Bad and Boujee” featuring Lil Uzi Vert (2016), “MotorSport” with Nicki Minaj and Cardi B (2017), “Stir Fry” (2018) and “Walk It Talk It” featuring Drake (2018).
The trio released its debut album Yung Rich Nation in 2015.
In 2016, the group made an appearance as a fictionalized version of itself in the first-season episode “Go For Broke” of the TV series Atlanta. Several albums followed, though most recently group member Offset had been performing solo material.
tate Farm Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks, was hosting a memorial service to celebrate the rapper’s life and music, and a massive sign outside the arena was lit up with the rapper’s image.A program for the funeral showed an order of events that included various musical performances, prayers, montages and poems.
Takeoff, a rapper with the Georgia-based hip-hop trio Migos whose string of hits earned them an appearance on a 2016 episode of the TV series Atlanta and two Grammy nominations, was shot and killed at a downtown Houston bowling alley and pool hall early Tuesday morning. He was 28.
