Professionally speaking, Takeoff, the Migos member who was shot and died at 28 years old a few days ago, went out on a good note: He and Quavo released their first album as a duo, Only Built For Infinity Links, in early October. It was critically well-received and a commercial success, so far peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart (although it remains to be seen how Takeoff’s passing will impact the album’s placement on the next rank). If you ask 50 Cent, though, now is the time for Quavo to tweak the album.
In an Instagram post shared last night (November 2), 50 wrote, “This is really how it goes @quavohuncho you have to position this Album correctly for Take Offs Legacy, go make a couple changes and address everything all artist make the best music out of painful moments. R.I.P to pop smoke [dove emoji] R.I.P to TakeOff.”
The text accompanies a video of music executive Steven Victor on Rich Kleiman’s Out Of Office podcast (as Complex notes), discussing 50’s involvement on Pop Smoke’s successful 2020 posthumous album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon. Victor said in part:
“I gotta say that I don’t think […] if I never had this conversation 50, I don’t know if this album would’ve came out. So when [Smoke] passed, 50 kept trying to get in touch with me. So I finally went to go see him. I couldn’t listen to [Smoke’s] music, and 50 was like, ‘Yo, you’re being selfish. You can’t let your emotions or you being in this depressed state stop you from executing the plans you guys had. Three weeks ago, you guys were in my office talking about taking over the world. He passed away, but who’s going to keep his legacy going? Who’s gonna make sure his music comes out so he can take care of his family?’ He’s like, ‘That’s on you. I get you’re sad and all that sh*t, but this ain’t the time for that.’”
Quavo has yet to publicly address Takeoff’s death, but Offset recently changed his Instagram profile picture to a photo of Takeoff.