QUAVO: "Qromelife" is a reflection of my life. It's a reflection of my lifestyle. It's a way of life.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And it's a new album by Quavious Marshall, better known as Quavo. Together with his friend Offset and nephew Takeoff, they burst onto the hip-hop scene as the Migos in the early 2010s. The group shaped the culture for nearly a decade, but at their height, they fell apart. And soon after, Takeoff was killed by gunfire.
QUAVO: How do you get up when you're knocked down? How do you go through a tragedy through the storm and still stand out strong? We call that coming out Qrome.
RASCOE: Quavo has taken that mindset and melded it to his latest album, "Qromelife" - with a Q, of course. Quavo joined us to talk about his latest project, the tragedy of his nephew's death and the future of the Migos. We began with the track "Hit A Lik," which refers to the group's origins in Georgia and the influence of Atlanta.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIT-A-LIK")
QUAVO: (Rapping) Finally made it out the streets I hit a lick. True. I hit a lick. True. I'm out of here. Whoo. Whoo. Huncho. Jet landin' a place you can't go. Go. Got bands, but a [censored] playing broke. Hit a lick. Gotta do it for the trench. Do it for the hood. 'Cause we all came from nothin'.
RASCOE: Now, anyone that knows me knows that I often say I got to hit a lick. Like I got to (laughter).
QUAVO: Exactly. Exactly.
RASCOE: Know what I'm saying? But what does that mean to you at this point?
QUAVO: Hit a lick is another step to greatness, you know what I'm saying?
RASCOE: Yeah.
QUAVO: Another step to your goal. Goals are very, very, very hard to reach. You know, dreams are hard to reach when you dream something. It's like you got a whole bunch of records but what's going to be that record to take you through that? What's going to be the one to get you across to the finish line and you get that bag or you get that deal done? That's your lick. You hit that lick. You hit your goal. That's that hit a lick.
RASCOE: What do you think Atlanta has brought to hip-hop?
QUAVO: Atlanta is the mecca of the culture. If you're a young Black man trying to make it, it's the place where you can dream big. And next thing you know, you spreading that across the world and people dressing and dancing and rapping like you - to be specific, rapping like the Migos and Quavo, the sound.
RASCOE: Let's talk about the Migos - you, Offset and Takeoff. What was that like for y'all, though, to go from y'all are trying to make it to going to being at such a huge level? Was that a difficult transition?
QUAVO: I mean, not really because we always felt like we had the aura and the sauce, and we only dropped one or two mixtapes. And next thing you know, we had a song called "Versace" that took off and the world was on notice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VERSACE")
MIGOS: (Rapping) I know that you like it, Versace, my neck and my wrist is so sloppy. Versace, Versace, I love it, Versace the top of my Audi. My plug, he John Gotti, he give me the ducks, and I know that they're mighty.
QUAVO: So sometimes I think those dreams like that is kind of like, you know, you see them before they come to you.
RASCOE: Yeah. And I want to talk to you about Takeoff. Once again, saying, so sorry to you for that. He was not only a third member of the Migos. He was your nephew. Y'all were only three years age difference. He was shot and killed in November 2022 in Houston, Texas. Tell us about your relationship to Takeoff and what really made him shine.
QUAVO: Like you said, we three years apart. So at the age of 3, I was honored to be an uncle. All my life, that's been just my responsibility was to take care of him and just look after him. And we dressed alike. We always dressed like little twins. So I always looked at him as my little brother. I was just honored to just be his uncle and be around him and his aura, his swag. He always been quiet, down to earth. And he was always super, super talented at everything he did. He sat there and absorbed everything around him because he was so quiet. And the way he got his name, Takeoff, back in the day, we would record on this program called Windows Movie Maker. It wasn't really a program for recording. You have to narrate it. And...
RASCOE: Oh.
QUAVO: ...You only got one take to narrate it. So that's why I'm always on songs first, fun fact. I had to go first because I would kind of, like, mess up all the time and had to redo it. But every time it's time for his part, he would just go...
RASCOE: Oh.
QUAVO: ...In one take. And that's how you got Takeoff.
RASCOE: Yeah. You know, I mean, it's such a big loss, and so many young rappers have lost their lives. And you have spoken out against gun violence. What do you think about, like, this industry when it seems like people get big, trying to leave the streets and still end up losing their lives?
QUAVO: I mean, I feel like they come with the territory that we have, you know, been in this game and seen guys lose their life before us, before this game. I just didn't never knew that they would hit home. Only thing I can do is stay strong. And God called my name to be a vessel, to be a leader that speak out about gun violence. And I'm reaching out to all families, all walks of life that lost their life to gun violence, and just trying to be a comfort zone to let you know you are not alone. I think every business of facet is scary out there because you've got a target on your back. With rap, it's just more vivid, you know what I'm saying? You see it more.
RASCOE: And, you know, obviously, Takeoff's legacy lives on. And one way that it's been living on very visually recently is that your song with Takeoff, "Hotel Lobby," has gone viral again, and people have put all these AI versions of people like Barack and Michelle Obama and others in your places.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOTEL LOBBY (UNC & PHEW)")
TAKEOFF: (Rapping) Let's get it. Hop off a 16-passenger. This a G5. No, this not a Challenger. Big one. I keep some members with me, and the freaks get coach seats. They some cannibals. Eaters.
QUAVO: [inaudible] like that. That's my dog. I feel like Takeoff up there working. Just letting him know he still got it - you know what I'm saying? - and reminding the world that we're the biggest in the game, and we still trendsetting. And everybody's doing it. The craziest one I've seen was like an Elon Musk and...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
QUAVO: ...The guy who made the AI. And I was like...
RASCOE: Oh, yeah.
QUAVO: ...Oh, yeah. I know this is viral, viral.
RASCOE: You know, I got to point out, like, for Migos fans, your album does include a feature from offset in the song "Away."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AWAY")
OFFSET: (Rapping) Let's get away. Way. Let's take the rocket, go outer space. Rocket. New presi', I got with the diamond face. Presi'. They copy my wave. They my proteges. They my proteges.
RASCOE: How was it working with offset again?
QUAVO: I think just going through what we've been through, I think it was time for that. I think we needed that. I think it was - it felt like a therapeutic session, and it felt like we was back in the cafeteria. I've been knowing him since the seventh grade. And when we get together, it's just chemistry. It's obvious that we're missing one, but like I said, it is - sometimes you just need to go back to where it began and back to where it starts, so you can just ground yourself.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AWAY")
QUAVO: (Rapping) Hunchos. Yeah. Hun-dun. Hun-duns. Told her, don't glaze. Honеy bun. Honey bun. I'm in a new lane. One of one. I bought a new chain for my plus one. Ice. And I'm still a Migo. Migo. They bit it all up. I had to reload.
RASCOE: Well, I mean, you talk about still being a Migo on that song. Obviously, you know, you've lost a pillar of the group in Takeoff since then. But is there a chance for more Migos music in the future?
QUAVO: Yeah, we're cooking. We're cooking right now. We're getting it going.
RASCOE: OK.
QUAVO: We whipping it.
RASCOE: (Laughter) And, see, that's the ad-lib 'cause that's what y'all are known for. So, what is it about the ad-libs that y'all do that are so catchy, and they just bring us on to another level?
QUAVO: It's the chemistry that we have together. It's the synergy. You feel me? It's me hyping my dog up, and it's still got that good southern James Brown feel. You know what I'm saying? Like, uh.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yes.
QUAVO: And mama.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yeah.
QUAVO: You know? So we got to down pat so much now. I just feel like I'm still in the group when I'm doing this dolo.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: So I also know that you just announced that you are a new father to a baby girl. How has that changed you and your music? And congratulations.
QUAVO: Thank you. I'm a father of two.
RASCOE: Oh, OK.
QUAVO: Yeah, I got a girl and a boy. And I'm proud of myself. And I felt like that was another stepping stone, another milestone for me to just embrace me. And I think that was the motivation coming from the losses I had. I think I needed something to smile about.
RASCOE: That's big. That's hip-hop artist Quavo. His new record "Qromelife" is out now. Thank you so much for sticking with me.
QUAVO: Thank you so much for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOUSE MUSIC")
QUAVO AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: (Rapping) Whoo. Music you got houses with. Cash. House music. House music. House music. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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