Cardi B has opened up about the moment she and Offset found out about TakeOff’s death.
The Bronx bombshell appeared on the inaugural episode of Hollywood Unlocked founder Jason Lee’s new eponymous podcast, where she recalled the night she and her husband received the tragic news that TakeOff — Offset’s cousin and Migos groupmate — had been shot and killed.
“We were in bed. We were supposed to go to LaLa [Anthony]’s party in New York, and my daughter threw up all over my costume,” she said during the almost 90-minute episode. “Halloween was over ’cause it was just so much throw-up on the custome and I ain’t have nothing to wear.”
She added: “So we just fell asleep, and out of nowhere, Offset’s phone kept ringing, my phone kept ringing. Offset picked up the phone and he was just like, ‘No!’ He’s screaming and screaming. He’s screaming like, ‘No! No! No! No!’
“I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And he’s like, ‘TakeOff is dead.’ I smacked him and said, ‘Don’t say that!’ And then he’s just like screaming and throwing things, throwing up, running all over. And I was so scared, I was crying so much. It was terrible.”
Cardi explained that TakeOff’s untimely passing continued to weigh heavily on her and Offset’s hearts, and that any small setback would be enough to “trigger” them.
“It was just such a sensitive time in my home,” she said. “I just feel like everything was so triggering, like any little bad thing, any little diss, any little whatever the crap to me was just so triggering. It was a lot.”
TakeOff (real name Kirsnick Khari Ball) was fatally shot outside a Houston, Texas bowling alley on November 1, 2022. Police believe the 28-year-old rapper was an innocent bystander to a dice game involving Quavo and other men when an argument over the game escalated and shots were fired.
The Migos hitmaker was struck by stray bullets in the head and torso, his autopsy report later revealed, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 33-year-old man named Patrick Clark, known locally in Houston as DJ Pat, has been charged with TakeOff’s murder. Police linked him to the crime by surveillance footage showing him firing a gun, as well as wine bottle left at the scene containing his fingerprints.
Investigators also had to recreate the crime scene to confirm any ballistic evidence. “Through that we were able to deduce that Patrick Clark is the lethal shooter in the case, that’s why he’s charged with murder,” Homicide Division Sgt. Michael Burrow said.
Clark has maintained his innocence and was released from jail earlier this month after posting a $1 million bond. He is due back in court in March.
Cardi B previously opened up about the impact of TakeOff’s death last November, admitting she had been struggling to lift Offset’s spirits following his passing.
“We’re living our life normally, but deep down inside our hearts have been so heavy,” she said in a voice note shared on Twitter. “I feel like if we talk about how we really feel or what muthafuckas really been going through, y’all will start saying, ‘Oh, sympathy.’ And we don’t want no sympathy. We ain’t no charity case.
“But no lie, I have been feeling so hopeless trying to make my husband happy. Trying to make him crack a smile, seeing him randomly cry, see him trying to distract his mind completely, schedules been changing, trying to keep up with work after everything that he’s been going through these past couple of weeks.”
Offset himself has frequently posted about TakeOff on social media since his death and even introduced a massive tribute to his late cousin that he said will be played “before every show.” Most recently, he admitted that he’s still struggling to process his grief.
“Shit not easy fake smiling and shit tryna keep walking with my head up,” he wrote to his 4.5 million Twitter followers on December 21 while sharing a photo of TakeOff stood triumphantly on stage during a Migos festival performance.
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