Takeoff, one-third of influential Atlanta rap trio Migos, has died following an early-morning shooting at a Houston, TX bowling alley on Tuesday, TMZ has confirmed. He was 28 years old.
Takeoff had been spotted around town in Houston on Monday night celebrating fellow rapper Jas Prince‘s birthday. According to witnesses who spoke to TMZ, Takeoff and Migos cohort Quavo were involved in a dice game at 810 Billiards & Bowling Houston when an altercation broke out and shots were fired. Takeoff, real name Kirshnik Khari Ball, was shot “either in the head or near his head” and was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Police told TMZ that two other people were also shot in the incident, although their current conditions are not known. Quavo was reportedly not injured in the altercation.
Takeoff, Quavo (who is Takeoff’s uncle), and Offset (who is Takeoff’s cousin) began rapping together in 2008 as the Polo Club. They eventually changed their collective’s name to Migos and garnered their first commercial success with 2013 single “Versace“. The group released its first LP, Yung Rich Nation, in 2015, and followed that over the ensuing years with three volumes of their Culture album in 2017 (Culture), 2018 (Culture II), and 2021 (Culture III). They earned a pair of Grammy nominations in 2017–2018 for Culture (Best Rap Album) and “Bad and Bougee” (Best Rap Performance).
Takeoff released one solo album, The Last Rocket, in 2018. The trio also appeared as fictionalized versions of themselves in a 2016 episode of Donald Glover‘s FX comedy-drama Atlanta.
After personal conflicts between Quavo and Offset informally put Migos on ice earlier this year, Takeoff and Quavo went on to release an album as a duo, Only Built for Infinity Links, in early October. The pair had released their new music video for “Messy” on Monday, just hours before Takeoff was fatally shot.
This story is developing.