JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Inspiring, innovative and creative are words used to describe Takeoff, the rapper shot and killed in Houston early Tuesday morning.
Loved ones say he was at a Houston bowling alley when he was gunned down.
It’s a story that hits home for many people, including a local mother who says the rapper’s death is a reminder of her son’s murder who was also an artist.
“My son had big dreams and he wanted to do big and great things,” said Latasha Hobbs, son killed.
Hobbs carries the memory of her son in her heart, but she carries his picture everywhere in hopes of sharing his story.
“Not everybody around you wants to see you succeed,” said Hobbs.
For the longest she told her son, maurice hobbs, those words because she says the lane he was in doing rap music can be one where people are envious and also judgmental.
“You can’t paint every artist, music artist with the same brush, it’s wrong,” said Hobbs.
Before he made it big doing what he loved, Hobbs was killed in 2017 on the streets of Jacksonville.
A painful reality for Latasha Hobbs, one she relives when she hears about other rappers being killed.
“As a mom of a music artist or rap artist, my son, Maurice is very talented, his gift of music is something he’s born with and his poetry is a gift, a talent because my son used his words to uplift other people, to spread love,” said Hobbs.
Takeoff, a member of the group Migos was killed Tuesday at a Houston bowling alley.
B. Taylor, a billboard charting artist who worked with Takeoff, says he was well respected and created a different avenue for the rap culture.
“The culture, the style, the flow they had and the way their delivery was melodic… they were the ones with that melodic type of way,” said Taylor.
Taylor feels rappers are sometimes targeted and he feels there needs to be changes within the culture and more accountability.
Hobbs says people need to first start looking at rappers as humans who deserve to live.
You don’t get those stereotypes when it comes to Country music or R&B or Pop music or Rock and Roll,” said Hobbs.
She says she hopes Takeoff’s death opens peoples’ heart to being more empathetic and loving.