Takeoff of the group Migos performs during the 2019 BET Experience in Los Angeles on June 22, 2019. A representative confirms that rapper Takeoff is dead after a shooting outside of a Houston bowling alley. © Richard Shotwell/Invision, AP
The rapper Takeoff, a member of the Grammy-nominated hip hop trio Migos, was fatally shot at a bowling alley in Houston, Texas on Tuesday, according to entertainment outlet TMZ. He was 28 years old.
Born Kirshnik Khari Ball, he was playing dice with fellow Migos member Quavo at around 2:30 am, TMZ said. Houston police said they reported to a shooting overnight and one person was dead at the scene, but would not confirm the victim's identity until the family had been notified.
Two other people were shot and taken to area hospitals in private vehicles, police said.
According to TMZ, Quavo was not hurt.
The entertainment outlet said Takeoff and Quavo were playing dice when "an altercation broke out and that's when someone opened fire, shooting Takeoff."
A couple of hours prior to the shooting, Takeoff had posted a selfie from what appeared to be the bowling alley.
The venue, 810 Billiards & Bowling, said they would be closed on Tuesday.
Early tributes rolled in as news of the death spread on social media, including from Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who tweeted "Sending love to Takeoff's loved ones. I'm tired of seeing young Black men die."
Born in Lawrenceville, Georgia on June 18, 1994, Takeoff was best known for his membership in Migos along with Quavo, his uncle, and Offset, his cousin who today is married to fellow rapper Cardi B.
"Growing up, I was trying to make it in music. I was grinding, which is just what I loved doing," Takeoff said in a 2017 interview with The Fader. "Just making something and creating for me."
"I was getting my own pleasure out of it, because it's what I liked doing. I'd wait for Quavo to get back from football practice and I'd play my songs for him."
The Atlanta-based Migos soared to prominence off their viral 2013 song "Versace," which Drake remixed.
It was 2016's smash hit "Bad and Boujee" that first saw them hit number one.
The trio, managed by hip hop powerhouse Coach K, is considered widely influential in bringing contemporary Southern trap, a popular and influential rap sub-genre, to the mainstream.
Following their debut album "Yung Rich Nation" in 2015, they debuted atop the Billboard top albums chart with their sophomore album "Culture."
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After inking a deal with Motown and Capitol Records in 2017, they followed up with "Culture II," once again hitting the chart's top spot.
In 2021, they completed the trilogy with "Culture III."
Quavo and Takeoff, who have been performing as a duo, had recently released a new music video for the track "Messy."
"I'm doing some melodic stuff. Even Quavo, he usually does the melodic things and I rap more, but we're going back to the roots," Takeoff had told the outlet Complex this fall.
(AFP)