Offset Debuted A Huge New Back Tattoo In Takeoff’s Honor

Following his tragic death, Takeoff still has Offset’s back. To honor his late cousin and fellow Migos rapper’s memory on April 15, Offset (aka Kiari Kendrell Cephus) revealed a new tattoo of Takeoff’s likeness covering his back. “Love you 4L & after,” he captioned two Instagram photos of the ink — which depicts the musician (born Kirsnick Khari Ball) wearing an animal-print coat and his signature chains, while surrounded by celestial imagery — adding a rocket, white heart, and dove emojis. Busta Rhymes, Ty Dolla Sign, Fabolous, and Desiigner were among the stars to show support in the comments.

This was only the latest tribute to Takeoff, who was 28 years old when he died on Nov. 1, following a fatal shooting outside of a Houston bowling alley. After a celebration of life at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, Offset previewed a new song featuring Icewear Vezzo and a posthumous Takeoff verse, via his Instagram stories, in March. Months earlier, the “Clout” rapper also revealed that he was paying homage to his late cousin before every show by projecting an image of Takeoff while the Jackson 5’s 1971 classic “Never Can Say Goodbye” plays.

In the weeks following Takeoff’s murder, Offset opened up in an emotional open letter on Instagram. “Dear Take, The pain you have left me with is unbearable. My heart is shattered and I have so many things to say, but I can’t find the words. I’ve been going to sleep and hoping that all of this is a dream, but it’s reality, and reality feels like a nightmare,” he wrote, in part, on November 15. “I know someone with a soul like yours is in heaven now. I hope you can see how much we love you and miss you. You have left a hole in my heart that will never be filled.”

In January, Offset’s wife, Cardi B, shared details of the aftermath of her and her husband receiving the tragic news while in bed. “He’s just like screaming, throwing things, throwing up, running all over. I was just so scared. I was just crying so much. It was terrible,” she explained on the Jason Lee Podcast. “It was just such a sensitive time in my home. I feel like everything was so triggering. It was a lot.”

Though Cardi B and Offset were both in attendance at the 2023 Grammy Awards, Quavo (aka Quavious Keyate Marshall) was the only Migos member to perform during the show’s In Memoriam segment; he honored nephew Takeoff with his new track “Without You.” At the time of the late rapper’s death, the trio had been working on separate projects, including Quavo and Takeoff’s Only Built for Infinity Links as a duo dubbed Unc and Phew.