Album: Quavo & Takeoff – Only Built For Infinity Links
Call it naivete if you must, but when all three members of Migos unleashed solo projects over the course of a few months beginning in 2018, the idea of the group disbanding was likely the furthest thing from anyone’s mind—they guested on each other’s projects, for goodness sake. But in the timeless words of one Nasir Jones, “a thug changes, and love changes, and best friends become strangers (word up).” If dissension within a crew of three preternaturally talented Atlanta MCs wasn’t inevitable, it was undeniable by summer 2022, when fans discovered that Offset was suing Migos’ label Quality Control Records for exclusive rights to his solo recordings. This may not have had to affect Migos’ members’ relationships with one another—see the continually muddy comings and goings of artists and producers within the Cash Money Records camp at the turn of the century. But it did, which led to Quavo and Takeoff, real life uncle and nephew, affirming the family ties with Only Built for Infinity Links. And those guys seem to be getting along fine. “An infinity link, see, that’s the strongest link in the world,” Quavo explains on album opener “Two Infinity Links.” “By far stronger than a Cuban,” Takeoff adds, setting the table for an attempt to push the vision of Raekwon and Ghostface showcase Only Built 4 Cuban Linx an iced-out step further. But who, exactly, are Quavo and Takeoff without Offset? To be VVS-quality clear, they are the same MCs they were with him. Across the album, they’ve commissioned beats from longtime Migos collaborators—DJ Durel, Mustard, and Murda Beatz, among others—to talk big money (“HOTEL LOBBY,” “Hell Yeah”), big drip (“Not Out,” “Integration”), and, of course, big jewels (“Chocolate,” “Look @ This,” “Big Stunna”). Life as two-thirds of hip-hop’s favorite trio for roughly a decade running has clearly been good to Quavo and Takeoff, and they have no plans to stop living it to the fullest, whether Offset is in the studio with them or not. Above all, they sound happy, and especially so in the face of doubters still perplexed by their longevity. “We balling on n***as they thought it was gon’ be an upset,” Takeoff says on “Tools.” “They look at us like leprechauns, like, ‘Damn, them n***as ain’t run out of luck yet’ (No!).”