Kirshnik Khari Ball, better known as Takeoff, one-third of the multi-platinum hip hop group Migos, was shot and killed at a bowling alley in Houston earlier this week. The 28-year-old was an instant standout in the Grammy-nominated trio thanks to the cocktail of his punchy flow and catchy ad-libs. Takeoff's death makes him at least the sixth mainstream rapper to be gunned down this year, preceded by Snootie Wild, Archie Eversole, Trouble, JayDaYoungan and PnB Rock, alongside the emerging talents we also lost to gun violence just in 2022. All Black men.
Tighten up, Watkins is the first thought that came to me when I heard the news about Takeoff. Not a hunger to scour the internet for all the details of the shooting. Not punching my Tidal app to build a Takeoff playlist, or even checking the social media pages of the other Migos members, Offset and Quavo, because I am a fan, one of the people who contributed to the more than 1.5 billion streams of their 2017 chart-topper "Bad and Boujie." I didn't even go to Takeoff's page to get a sense of what other fans were feeling. None of those normal reactions to losing a celebrity crossed my mind at the shocking moment. I just took a self-audit and thought, tighten up, Watkins. Like many Black men in this country, hyper-awareness has been my key to survival.
