Friday’s memorial service for Migos’ Takeoff at State Farm Arena was a church. Justin Bieber, Chloe Bailey, Yolanda Adams, Drake, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, and Quality Control Music founders gave a tribute at the three-hour sendoff.
VIPs Among Drake And Justin Bieber Celebrating The Life Of Rapper Takeoff!
Cousin Offset, who created Migos with Takeoff’s uncle Quavo, struggled to compose himself remembering his brother and bandmate. He apologized, dreadlocks covering his face.
I love you, dog. “Love you,” he said.
After the November 1 killing, Offset informed the several thousand people in attendance, most of them in black, that he couldn’t sleep or eat. He said he wakes up hoping the Houston shooting of his 28-year-old cousin was a nightmare.
He wished we could laugh again. “I wish we could smoke.” “You did that, Take,” he said, before asking the assembly to pray.
Drake’s poem
Gospel music opened the ceremony. Takeoff’s casket was at the bottom of mother-of-pearl stairs and adorned with white roses. As a choir sang, angel-costumed acrobats danced on white ribbons in the corners. The arena was ringed by an infinity sign with Takeoff’s rocket emblem, a tribute to his latest works and his eternal legacy.
Bieber performed in a black toboggan as box candles on the stadium screens illuminated the arena floor. The two-time Grammy winner played “Ghost” on a seat with a piano. “If you can’t be near to me/Your memory is ecstasy/I miss you more than life,” he sang.
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Drake, who remixed and added a line to their 2013 song “Versace,” cited Joyce Grenfell and Maya Angelou in his eulogy.
He quoted Grenfell: “If I should leave before the rest of you/Break, not a flower nor inscribe a stone/Nor when I’m gone speak in a Sunday voice/But be the regular selves that I have known.”
He then paraphrased Angelou’s “When Great Trees Fall,” a poem about being sorry when great trees or souls die but remembering, “They existed.” We’re/They were. Be better/Because they were.”
The rapper, who recently released an album with 21 Savage, then performed his poem “We Should Do That More,” recalling how he met Migos on their 54-city tour in 2018. He cried remembering the Audemars Piguet watch Takeoff handed him.
He missed performing with his brothers. “More of that.”
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Quiet Migo
Takeoff will always be the calm Migo. Several speakers warned the crowd not to interpret his quiet as a lack of words. Jesse Curney III, the pastor of Takeoff’s family’s Lilburn church, recounted a Quavo anecdote regarding Takeoff’s nickname.
Takeoff, the youngest of the three, would stroll up to the mike and record his words in one take, but Quavo and Offset needed numerous tries to get their verses correct. The pastor stated, “He was an introvert, yet he trusted God” to speak out.
Fans lined up hours before the event
Rain not an issue as people queue in a solid drizzle for #Takeofffuneral. Takeoff & Migos were courtside regulars at State Farm for Hawks game. Their music has bellowed through the PA system during timeouts and replay reviews for years. pic.twitter.com/yMpH3oSWl1
— Eliott C. McLaughlin (@ByEliott) November 11, 2022
Takeoff’s departure was apt at State Farm. The rapper, typically alongside Quavo and Offset, attended Atlanta Hawks games iced out and dripping. His music plays during timeouts and replay reviews.
Despite a cold, steady drizzle, people lined up outside the venue at 8:30 a.m. “Rest in peace, Takeoff,” a woman shouted from a passing silver Mazda around 10. Line fans waved back.
Kendrick Woods, 24, and their girlfriend Kailey Allen, 20, of Covington were second in line. Woods drove 45 minutes downtown on his day off as a sandblast machine operator.
Woods felt gloomy when asked about his favorite song, Takeoff’s 2018 solo debut “Last Memory,” and that it’s still hard to talk about his favorite Migo. He stated he cried. “I’m depressed about it,” he remarked.
Impact anything but quiet
Maliyah Tindall, 22, of Riverdale, and Sequoia Thomas, 20, of Atlanta, also like Takeoff’s “Slippery” verse. They traveled 30 minutes from Clayton State University in Morrow to offer their respects. “He’s huge for culture,” Thomas stated before the funeral. “They prepared a lot of rappers that are here today.”
“Like a tame lion,” Thomas stated after Tindall said, “He was quiet but made a great impact.” Tindall and Thomas said Migos was a mainstay of their teens and didn’t always get the credit he deserved, but he was on every track.
“He’d even take over people’s tracks outside Migos,” Thomas added of his collaborations with Lil Wayne, Roddy Rich, and Travis Scott.
Maliya Tindall & Sequoia Thomas came from Clayton State U. (30 mins away) & pose before steel beams spelling out Atlanta, ahead of #Takeofffuneral. They grew up with Migos & say real hip-hop heads know that despite #Takeoff’s quiet nature, he always brought the lyrical skills. pic.twitter.com/tmOM7LyaxZ
— Eliott C. McLaughlin (@ByEliott) November 11, 2022
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