![]() Takeoff got his moniker from how he’d be able to record a verse in a single take, with no flubs or fouls. He remembers the first time Takeoff and Quavo visited his basement studio in Atlanta’s east side: “You didn’t even notice until he started rapping,” he says. Xavier Dotson, better known as Zaytoven, is a longtime fixture of Atlanta’s production scene who collaborates closely with Future and Gucci Mane. ![]() I’m going to stay here and listen to Big, Pac, Eminem.’” This kid’s 16, studying his craft – like, ‘I ain’t going out with you tonight. And you check the YouTube history and it’s Tupac and Biggie, shit like that. “We’d come back home and he’d still be awake – smoking, chilling, vibing. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/ReutersĭJ Ray G, who spins for Cardi B on tour and hails from Migos’ native Lawrenceville, Georgia, linked up with the group during those initial club takeovers – from their first meeting in 2011 at Pink Flamingo, to Mansion Elan on Fridays and Obsessions on Saturdays. Migos at the 2018 Met Gala, (L-R) Offset, Quavo and Takeoff. Takeoff had established himself as a reliable performer, and he was content to let his bandmates – his uncle Quavo and Offset, Quavo’s cousin – network on the group’s behalf and claim the lion’s share of the limelight. “But even if you paid them $35,000, you’re gonna win. “Back when were worth $30,000 or $40,000 for a club performance, we could get them for $15,000,” Williams said. Williams worked as a promoter at the 2,500 capacity club Mansion Elan, where the group’s hold was so strong – off the strength of performing early hits such as Bando and Jumpin Out Da Gym – that the club was nicknamed “Migos Elan.” At 16, he was too young to drink when Migos were taking over Atlanta’s nightclubs, courting its DJs and buying sections to make a splashy impression before patrons had even heard a single verse. Instead they remember Migos’ youngest member, born Kirshnik Khari Ball, for his ambition, which was impressive even before 2013 breakout hit Versace. Yet those who knew Takeoff best don’t want to paint his death as some cautionary tale for hip-hop writ large – not when the man himself so consciously avoided the public eye, and the troubles and antagonisms that can plague celebrities of his stature. In the immediate aftermath of Takeoff’s death, rap luminary Chuck D blamed the music industry for “normalising” gun violence, telling TMZ, “You have people who’ve grown up thinking that hip-hop death is a normal thing.”
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