LeBron James pays homage to late rapper Takeoff: "You can ask any one of my teammates back then, they had no idea who the Migos was"
LA Lakers superstar forward LeBron James appears to have taken the recent murder of 28-year-old Migos rapper Kirshnik Khari "Takeoff" Ball quite hard.
Ahead of the Lakers' game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, James made the decision to honor the hip-hop star. He wore a pregame outfit that emulated Takeoff’s iconic style. The outfit consisted of a black suit and tie, with a white undershirt, sunglasses and Takeoff's signature chain.
James then wore the same outfit postgame, where he spoke to reporters about what Takeoff meant to him.
The four-time NBA champion first spoke about how long he has been listening to Migos, dating back to 12 years ago, before they were even popular.
"For me, I’ve been listening to those guys for so long. I was listening to those guys my first year with the (Miami) Heat in 2010. And you can ask any one of my teammates back then, they had no idea who the Migos was," James said.
"They were like cursing me out when I would play it throughout the weight room or play it throughout the locker room. I was like ‘I’m telling you, these guys are going to be next, I’m letting you know right now.’ They was like ‘Turn this off.’"
.@KingJames talks about paying respect to the late Takeoff and the culture with his outfit. 🖤 https://t.co/WVgdihQAMR
He then revealed that he sent his condolences to Takeoff's friends and family, before explaining how big the loss was for the black community.
"And just fast forward, I mean, knowing Takeoff personally. I sent my condolences to Quavo [Takeoff's uncle] and the family.
"It’s another hit for our community. In the black community, there are like three people outside your household, that you kind of look up to for inspiration. There’s athletes, there’s musicians and there’s, unfortunately when we growing up, there’s the neighborhood dope boy. …
"But they drove nice cars and wore nice things and things of that nature, so you didn’t know no better."
James continued:
"So for us to lose another one, I mean, it seems like every time we get a good moment, we lose another one.
"Like I said, my condolences go out to his family, to the whole hip-hop community, to the music community. And anybody who had any relationship with him, listened to his music or had ever met him."
James then added that Takeoff was one of the quietest, chillest people he knew. He also said that his death was the result of yet another senseless act of gun violence:
"Literally, if he was in here, you guys wouldn’t even know he was in here. He was the most quiet, chill in the back, don’t want no problems type of guy. And it was just another senseless act of gun violence."
Finally, James said Takeoff was now in a better place and will be watching over his community:
"But you know, he’s in a better place. He’s looking over his community back in Georgia and over the hip-hop community. I’m just paying my respects to someone I really, really loved and admired, even though he was only 28 years old. But rest in paradise for sure."
For LeBron James' full postgame press conference, check out the video below.
You may also like to read this.
How exactly did Migos member "Takeoff" die?
Takeoff was fatally shot outside a Houston bowling alley last week. His murder occurred during an event with his uncle and Migos bandmate, Quavo.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner later said via BBC News that it did not appear that Takeoff was a specific target in the shooting.
"I would not expect him to be involved but I do want to wait on the investigation. But we have no reason to believe that he was involved in anything criminal at the time, just as people describe him as very peaceful, loving, a great entertainer," Finner said.
Migos, one of the most popular groups in hip-hop, consisted of three members, including Takeoff, Quavo and Quavo’s cousin Offset. However, Quavo and Takeoff had also recently begun to produce music on their own. Following Takeoff’s death, the future of Migos is now in doubt.
For more on Takeoff’s death, click here.