Here’s How Offset Subtly Paid Tribute to Takeoff

Offset is paying tribute to Takeoff in a subtle but powerful way. The “54321” rapper changed his Instagram profile picture to a photo of the latter Wednesday (Nov. 2), one day after the 28-year-old rapper — Offset’s cousin and fellow Migos member — was killed in a shooting in Houston.

The photo change marks the first time Offset, 30, has publicly addressed the death of his cousin, who was attending a private bowling alley party Tuesday (Nov. 1) with Quavo — Takeoff’s uncle and the third rapper in the Migos trio — when fatal gunfire rang out around 2:35 a.m., according to law enforcement. Takeoff’s death came just hours after he and Quavo had released their “Messy” music video together as Unc & Phew, their side project.

Offset’s new profile picture shows a grinning Takeoff wearing dark sunglasses. A small white heart emoji is pasted onto the photo’s top right edge.

Born in Lawrenceville, Ga., in 1994, Takeoff formed Migos with Quavo and Offset in 2008. They released their debut mixtape Juug Season in 2011 and became rap music game-changers when their single “Versace” took off in 2013. They would go on to drop “Bad and Boujee,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 2017, as well as top 10 hits “Stir Fry” and “MotorSport.”

The group released four studio albums together, the last of which was Culture III in 2021. In the months leading up to Takeoff’s death, however, many suspected that Migos was headed toward disbandment due to Offset seemingly turning his focus to solo projects, as Takeoff and Quavo worked on Unc & Phew.

As Quavo, Offset, fans and fellow hip-hop artists mourn Takeoff, the future of Migos remains unclear. Many, though, will remember the 28-year-old as the heart and soul of the group for years to come.

“He always been workin’ on his craft,” Quavo once said of Takeoff, praising his nephew 2018. “He just masterminded his craft.”