Offset Pushes Album Back Following Death Of Takeoff

Following the tragic loss of his cousin and former Migos rapper Takeoff, Offset has decided to push back his solo album.

A screenshot of an Instagram DM between the rapper and a fan confirmed the delay, with the fan writing in part: "It’s probably the last thing on your mind but is your album still dropping Friday?"

Set wrote back: "No pushed back."

The album was set to be released today (Nov. 11) the same day as the public homegoing for Takeoff. Offset has not announced when the follow-up to his 2019 Father of 4 will be released.

During an interview with SSENSE in August, Offset spoke about what his upcoming album solo project will be like.

"This is just the beginning," he explained. "It’s just gutter and core, from the heart. I got a lot of different flows on it. I’m rapping, even though I see a lot of the artists nowadays, they like auto tuning. A lot. I feel like I’m not on that wave at all. When I came in, we came out the trenches, so that’s what people want to hear, because that’s what people go through every day. Ain’t nobody driving a Wraith."

He added: "[In] Black culture right now, and the world in general, the poors outweigh the rich one thousand percent. So you gotta talk about s--- that’s going on in real life. Just the real content of what people see every day. Go back to that."

Takeoff was shot and killed at a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston on Nov. 1. He attended the party with Quavo, gossip site TMZ first reported. Quavo was not injured during the incident. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other victims — a 23-year-old male and 24-year-old female — checked themselves into a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, per Billboard. It was later reported that the 23-year-old male victim was Quavo's Assistant, Joshua 'Wash' Washington, per TMZ.

The memorial service for Takeoff will be held today (Nov. 11) at 1pm at the State Farm Arena in his home city of Atlanta.

Earlier this morning, we reported on the tragic and senseless death of rapper Takeoff from Migos. Takeoff, whose real name was Kirshnik Khari Ball, was killed in an early morning shooting in Houston.

Gossip site TMZ reported on the story. They noted that law enforcement sources, and multiple witnesses, said that the fatal incident occurred shortly after 2:30 AM when police got the call for a man shot at a bowling alley called 810 Billiards & Bowling Houston. According to their reports, Takeoff and Migos' Quavo were there playing dice when an altercation broke out and that's when someone opened fire, shooting Takeoff. They reported that he was shot "either in the head or near to his head." They said that he was pronounced dead on the scene. Takeoff was 28 years old.

TMZ also posted photos that were slightly blurred but which showed Takeoff lying on the ground.  Many were upset that TMZ and others shared horrifying footage. The writer Kimberly St. Julian-Vernon tweeted, "I think it’s disgusting that TMZ monetizes the deaths of Black men: Kobe’s accident, now Takeoff’s murder." Civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill said, "No human being or their family deserves to have published the kind of crime scene photos I glimpsed. A disgrace TMZ." Writer Rotimi Adeoye expressed, "I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. TMZ is disgusting. Posting death photos is beyond cruel. They did the same exact thing when Kobe died."

Rapper Cadence Weapon tweeted, "TMZ posted Takeoff’s dead body when reporting his murder. Would they do the same for a white country artist? Or would they be more respectful? Where does the impulse to film and post a lifeless dead Black body come from? Maybe this is why Black death has become so normalized." A twitter account called NBA Slime said, "TMZ y’all gotta stop showing “EXCLUSIVE” footage of people’s last moments Please man! Getting the scoop is enough, you guys don’t need to show that stuff anymore! It’s getting sick! You know what you’re doing and you know it’s wrong! Stop doing it!!!" See more reactions below.