Offset Says Feeling Takeoff’s Presence Pushed Him to Finish Solo Album ‘Set It Off’

Offset is gearing up to release his upcoming solo album Set It Off on Friday (Oct. 13). Ahead of its arrival, the rapper sat down for a conversation with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, which saw him talking about his late Migos bandmate Takeoff and how his family helps him through creative roadblocks.

Offset explained that losing Takeoff to a fatal shooting late last year was particularly hard because his spirit was genuinely uplifting.

“Take had that… he just had good character. He just was like, ‘I make music with people that love my music and I love everybody.’ He’s a loving person, man,” he told Lowe. “It was just a tragedy my boy had to go like that, man. But I’m pushing for him too. Legacy, the group thing is it can’t be a group because our main member is missing.”

Takeoff’s spirit lives on through Offset’s music, as he recalls the late rapper cheering him on in his solo endeavors — something that allowed him to push on in recording his new project. “Even on my own journey, I still feel his presence and his energy like, bro, ‘We got to go hard. We got to win. We got to win. This ain’t the end of it. We got to win,'” the “Clout” rapper added. “So that’s another thing that pushed me through is my boy, Take, man. He didn’t care that he didn’t care about the numbers, nothing. He like, ‘Bro, y’all’s s–t hard.’ He’s just very supportive in that. I just keep that in the back of my mind and just keep pushing.”

In addition to making music in honor of Takeoff’s memory, Offset shared that he continues to be inspired by his family, who in his words “kept my head on my shoulders” during the album recording process.

“Them being able to be close to me and to hold me tight because I needed family for a long time, man,” he said, referring to his five children and wife Cardi B. “People think everything is peaches and creams with an artist. You go through mental things, you go through things with your family, you go through confidence things, you go through creative block.”

The 31-year-old revealed that he struggled with making music during the summer months but was able to pull himself back together because one of his sons insisted on hearing new material. “It was like they giving me more life when I felt like I was draining … hearing my boys be like, ‘Dad, man, we want to hear your new music. When your new album going to drop? You need to come on.’ It just sparked the juice,” Offset recalled. “‘OK, let’s get back into the grind mode. Let’s get back into it.'”

Set It Off marks Offset’s second solo album; his first, Father of 4, peaked at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.