Takeoff funeral

Fellow musicians as well as fans gathered to commemorate the member of the rap group Migos, who was killed in Houston last month.

He teased Takeoff’s mom for admonishing their love of a vulgar Hot Boys CD and boasted about winning a talent show with Takeoff at the Boys & Girls Club performing “Get Your Roll On By” by the Big Timerz. Takeoff’s obituary read, “Takeoff would want the world to see the light in what he created and keep lifting each other up and supporting the creations people put into the world. And like Takeoff’s mother before him, Quavo seemed to have found some clarity: “You’re not my nephew,” he said to Takeoff, “Not my brother, but my angel.” “He never worried about titles or credits or who got the most shine,” said Quavo. Takeoff’s mother was joined on stage by his younger brother and sister, as well as Quavo, whose address brought a surprising levity to the memorial. She only quivered for a minute when she told the crowd that she would never be the same without him, but she grew strong again when she thought about meeting him in heaven. “Quavo and Offset, you might get mad at me,” warned Kevin “Coach K” Lee, co-founder of Migos’ label Quality Control, “but he was the wise one.” So how – why — could this have happened, and what are they to do now? When Justin Bieber, a good friend of Quavo’s who has collaborated with Migos, appeared on stage for the first performance of the memorial, it seemed as if he would not – could not – sing. Pee remembered a text he got from Takeoff that personified his spirit, one from June of last year that he revisited in recent days. Takeoff’s deep faith in God was called upon again and again in a memorial where loved ones and leaders worked to process his death out loud. “I need to be held,” he said so vulnerably. “I love you,” he said.