The Migos have dominated the rap game for almost a decade.
They popped off in 2013 with the track Versace,
and from there they just got bigger and bigger.
But this year rumors started flying that the crew was breaking up
over some internal beef behind the scenes,
and now Takeoff has been tragically killed
over an argument gone wrong.
Here’s how it all went down.
According to reports,
Quavo and Takeoff were shooting dice at a bowling alley in Houston
when a fight broke out and somebody started shooting.
Takeoff got hit in either the head or close to it,
and he was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
TMZ leaked a 911 call where dispatchers were talking about what happened.
Apparently someone in the building next to the bowling alley called 911
and reported that they heard shots going off and people screaming.
A woman on the scene said she was a nurse and was trying to help,
and in another video you can hear Quavo allegedly on the phone with 911
and asking them “What does she need to do?”
Graphic videos of the shooting started going around,
and it’s messed up that people pulled out their phones to record it
instead of stepping in to help.
What makes the situation even more tragic
that Takeoff was allegedly killed by someone in his own crew.
According to leaked texts from someone who was allegedly there,
Quavo was shooting dice and started getting mad because he was losing.
He allegedly tried to press a dude associated with Mob Ties and J Prince Jr,
and that’s when things got out of control.
When Quavo tried to check the dude from Mob Ties,
somebody else on their side hopped up and then everybody else got involved too.
That’s when somebody with Quavo and Takeoff allegedly started shooting
and accidentally hit Takeoff.
The Mob Ties dudes started firing back, and Takeoff was allegedly hit again.
Two other people got hit too and were taken to the hospital,
but it’s not clear what their condition is right now.
According to witnesses,
Takeoff was just chilling the whole time and wasn’t gambling or arguing.
But nobody is safe when shots start going off like that,
and unfortunately he just got caught at the wrong place and time.
Originally everyone was reporting that it started over the dice game,
but a woman who claims she was there hopped on Twitter and said
that the argument started outside
after someone made a joke about being able to beat Quavo in a fight.
Then the situation escalated until someone let off shots and Takeoff got hit.
A new video posted by TMZ seems like it backs the woman’s story up.
In the clip, Quavo was arguing with a group of dudes outside of the bowling alley
while Takeoff and the rest of their crew were standing behind him.
It’s hard to make out exactly what they were saying,
but at some point Quavo is talking about basketball and says
“I don’t get down like that,”
he tries to walk away and the other dude swung on him.
After, someone let off a shot.
The crowd scatters,
and then you can hear more shots ringing off while everyone is running away.
Then a woman who claimed to be there when it went down
called into Storm Monroe’s show and aired the situation out.
According to her,
nobody in Takeoff and Quavo’s camp even had guns on them.
She says
First of all in order to be around Jas Prince,
you have to be searched.
None of us had guns but Jas but Jas's people had guns.
The woman also claims
that Quavo wasn’t involved with the argument at all,
and that he was actually trying to calm the situation down.
The argument actually started way earlier in the night according to her,
then it got out of control at the bowling alley.
A day after it went down,
TMZ posted a new video
that shows a dude standing a few feet away from Takeoff and Quavo
with a gun in his hand.
Quavo walked by him, and then the first shot went off.
It’s not clear if the dude was the first one who shot,
but a few seconds later you can see him upping his strap
and allegedly letting off shots in the opposite direction Quavo went.
He might not have hit anyone,
but the cops say they’ve seen the video and now he’s a person of interest in the case.
Takeoff and Quavo have been pushing their collab project
Only Built for Infinity Links as a duo,
and they just dropped their latest music video “messy”
just hours before the shooting went down.
What’s wild about the situation is that Quavo posted a video
throwing up Mob Ties earlier in the night riding around with Jas Prince.
They were all out celebrating Jas’s birthday,
and Jas’s brother J Prince posted a slide on his story that said
“Bowling party tonight at 9pm. Dm for details.”
But even though the Migos are cool with Mob Ties,
Quavo still made a huge mistake
if he really tried to check one of them in their own territory.
In videos from the bowling alley,
you can see J Prince Jr. walking away after the shootout.
Back in September, a jeweler from Chicago named Duke093
was chilling in Houston with J Prince Jr, Boosie, and a bunch of other dudes.
They were all shooting dice, and Duke allegedly ran J Prince Jr’s for over $100K.
The next day, Duke went to Boosie’s concert rocking over a million dollars in chains,
and when he left the show a group of dudes robbed and shot him to death.
Rumors started flying that Boosie was somehow involved in the hit,
but he hopped on social media to clear his name.
According to Boosie, Duke walked down to a parking lot by himself,
and that’s when he got ambushed and killed.
People on the internet were accusing Boosie’s 19-year-old cousin
of being the shooter,
but Boosie said
“Bro, we getting money man…
as a boss, I ain’t letting that go down like that.”
After the news about Takeoff broke,
a Houston rapper named Sauce Walka went on IG and wrote
“This one HURT HURT…”
He said that he wished Takeoff and Quavo had been with him instead
and that no words could explain how big of a loss this is.
Jas Prince hopped in the comments and said
“@sauce_walka102 what you tryna say?”
and Sauce hit him back with “@jas.prince I SAID IT ALREADY.
MY NUMBER DONT CHANGE.”
After people saw J Prince Jr. was at the bowling alley,
rumors are going around that he was actually involved with Takeoff and Duke’s deaths.
But right now there’s no evidence to back any claims up.
Takeoff was never in the spotlight as much as Quavo and Offset,
but a week before he died
he went on Drink Champs with Quavo and said
“Enough is enough.
I’m chill, I’m laid back but,
it’s time to pop it…
I mean it’s time to give me my flowers.
I don’t want them later on when I ain’t here.
I want ‘em right now.”
According to people who knew him, Takeoff was just a great dude
who really loved his craft.
Back in May, P from Quality Control tweeted
“Takeoff so underrated.
If he cared more about this rap game
he would definitely be stepping on y’all n****s.”
When the news broke,
tons of rappers and other celebrities hopped on social media to show love.
Killer Mike, J.I.D, Joe Budden, DJ Premier,
and way more gave condolences to Takeoff
and talked about how senseless his death was.
Desiigner was live on IG,
and through tears he said that he’s quitting rap and that he “can’t live life like this.”
I prayed to God yesterday I'm done rap.
I'm done rap.
Takeoff always put on for the city
and loved sitting courtside at Hawks games.
After the news broke, Trae Young tweeted
“No f****** way,”
and the Falcons’ page posted a photo of Takeoff
and said his legacy will live on in Atlanta.
Drake posted a photo of him and Takeoff onstage together and wrote
“I got the best memories of all of us seeing the world together
and bringing light to every city we touch…
Rest easy space man Take,”
and Gucci Mane put up a picture of Takeoff and said
“This broke my heart. Rest in peace @yrntakeoff.”
DJ Khaled posted a picture of the Migos hanging out with him and his family,
and it’s clear that Takeoff touched a lot of people’s lives.
Rich the Kid said that they even used to share shoes and clothes before everyone blew up.
A sports journalist with the Atlantic
put it in perspective how dangerous hip hop is these days
compared to the Pac and Biggie era.
She tweeted that back then,
you couldn’t imagine anything coming close to those two dying -
but now rappers are getting killed so often
that you don’t even have time to recover from one death before someone else dies.
Just this year, the rap game has already lost Trouble, JayDaYoungan, PnB Rock, Takeoff,
and way more underground artists that mainstream media doesn’t report on.
It seems like the situation is just getting worse and nobody’s safe.
Takeoff hit crazy highs in his career
that most people can only dream about,
but all the success and money still didn’t keep him safe.
Even though people are spreading rumors about J Prince Jr. being involved,
Jas Prince hopped on IG to pay his respects to Takeoff.
He wrote “I never like to hear about things like this happening anywhere,
especially in my city, and to my family…”
Apparently Jas wasn’t there at the bowling alley when it went down,
and he woke up to a call about the shooting.
From what everyone says and how they’re reacting,
Takeoff was one of the rare artists who became a superstar
and didn’t let it all go to his head.
He stayed the same person since day one,
which isn’t something you usually see in this industry.
And without him, the Migos wouldn’t even exist.
Quavo gave Takeoff credit for getting him into rapping,
and he admitted that he was always the best in the crew.
Now he’s been tragically killed over something senseless
that never should’ve happened.
A few hours before he died,
Takeoff posted a photo outside of the bowling alley -
and nobody thought it would be the last picture he ever uploaded.
It’s not clear who was involved with the fight and shooting,
but the bowling alley probably had surveillance cameras
so it won’t be long before the cops start booking people.
There are a lot of rumors flying right now
about who did it and what led up to the shots going off,
but nobody really knows what’s going on yet.
What we do know is that the rap game lost another young artist for no reason.
Takeoff wasn’t somebody who always went around looking for trouble and starting fights.
The people around him say he was always laid back and ain't cause no issues.
And in the texts that leaked, from the alleged witness,
they said Takeoff was the “coolest quietest n**** in the room the whole time.”
Unfortunately it don't matter how cool you are when things go left.
In a state like Texas everyone got a gun,
and Takeoff got caught up in a bad situation at the wrong time.
Rest in peace to Takeoff.