Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "QUAVO - WITHOUT YOU"

Episode Date: January 22, 2023

Quavo, who lost his Migos bandmate and nephew to gun violence in November, honored Takeoff in “Without You,” a heartrending tribute song. Posted on social media in the early hours of January 5, the release comes a little over two months after the rapper was slain at a private party in a downtown Houston bowling alley where he and Quavo were in attendance. The shooting allegedly broke out after a game of dice grew violent. Takeoff was fatally caught in the crossfire. “Tears rolling down my eyes / I just seen an angel fly,” the song’s intro begins. “Tell me I’ll be fine, oh why?” The accompanying music video is contemplative. Over a reflective, minimal beat, Quavo sits in the studio, lights a blunt, and appears lost in thought. “Out in the galaxy, up in the stars / Over the universe, it’s bigger than Mars,” he raps in the chorus. “See you in heaven, see you in heaven / When I see you in heaven, I’mma be with my dog.”source: Quavo Remembers Takeoff in Tribute Song ‘Without You’ (vulture.com)Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Honestly, I think this is one of the best tracks of 2023 already. And I know you may think this exaggerating, but I really think that Kwavel made one of his best tracks of all time, because if you don't know, music, it's like therapy for most artists, and this is like, coming off the page is one of the most sincere, affectionate tracks to ever be made because it's about a real event. And that's when people gravitate to the most. Personally speaking, that's my favorite type of music is when it comes from a real place.

And Cuevo making this track about Takeoff is very interesting because it's just like, of course, everybody knows that November of last year, you know, Takeoff was killed in a Houston shooting. and then following that Cuevo took the Instagram to pay tribute to the Atlanta rapper and since then Cuevo's

hasn't been as, you know, vocal because you know he's grieving. Everybody grieves in their different ways but for Cuevo he took some time to himself but he's returned with a single called Without You and it follows Quavos and takeoffs only built for infinity links

which is so... It's so eerie how it happened because it's like, Quayvon Takeoff make a whole entire album together and the Takeoff passes away. And now that album has turned into a tribute type of album to takeoff because it's like at this point, you know how people be like, oh, we got to put out a post-hummus album like we deal with Pop Smoke with a Shoe for the Stars that was handled by 50 cent. Basically, only built for infinity links is kind of that tribute album to takeoff. because of course I don't want to get into beef on this on this track about takeoff but it's hard to not mention offset when we're talking about one of the member and amigos uh morning another member of amigos and you're like what about offset if you don't know offset and quavo or at all it's and it's still at odds right now because um because of some uh things that happen behind the scenes that you can look up for yourself but quavo and offset just are not on speaking terms at all And obviously take off, not necessarily to Cuevo side, but they stayed with QC, whereas Offset bought himself out of the deal with probably some help from Cardi B. Like, let's just be honest.

There's no way to buy yourself out of a deal if you don't have some help because they're going to put the price point to buy yourself out at a point where you're just like, well, this doesn't benefit me. This puts me in debt. So he probably had Cardi help him out. But besides the point, Offset bought himself out of QC, which is why legally, I don't even think they could make music together. anymore like on a legal type of aspect quavo's on QC offices by himself QC and offset is kind of beefing at this point quavo and officer are definitely beefing at this point so now it makes it very complicated when takeoff passes away to make music together to honor your brother so in general going back to our saying about this being only built for

infinity links being like a tribute album hotel lobby of course has 134 million listens right now and the next one closest is 30 million which is feature a young boy so hotel lobby has turned into the ultimate tribute song for takeoff now i know a lot of people want to say oh what about take off actual solo album that that came off which was like the last rocket um when amigos you know separately put out individual projects when they was all still on good terms but they all put out individual projects and take off put out the last rocket i feel like hotel lobby It's just the ultimate takeoff tribute because the way that this whole promo run came together, Quave on Takeoff was talking about family and a lot of things surrounding family,

hinting to the fact the offset did something that was just outside of family, which is out of bounds to the point where they just had to, he just had to split and he wanted to do his own thing and they didn't even want to go into detail because they knew that it was just unfortunate that they actually split up. So, Quave won't take off of doing the own thing, of course. And then that's when the whole Houston shooting happened in November of 2022,

which tragically killed takeoff. And now to see this track come out, which is like a tribute to take off. I'm not even going to lie to you. I'm not like, I don't get emotional on tracks. It's like watching a movie. Like this is the first time I've watched, I've listened to something,

watching the movie, it will pull at your heartstrings more than I feel like music could. And I know some people may disagree with me, but I feel like movies pull out your heartstrings more than music could. I don't know if because it triggers more senses. I don't know what's to, but basically listening to the Cuevo without you track, and especially this part right here. This is why I really wanted to point out because, of course, I actually went through the lyrics. I went through the lyrics of this track because I listened to this like a thousand times. This is probably going to be by far one of my favorite tracks of 2023.

And I'm still going to do my 22 rap-up, but that's later down the line because I want to do it around the times when the Grammys happen. So I can do my top music and I can do the Grammys like back to back. Anyways, that's besides a point. This track called without you with Cravo, right? It's very emotional, of course. You could probably already tell that because in general, he lost a brother, you know? and um because i think takeoff is offsets nephew or nephew or uncle one of those and cravo and takeoff are brothers i believe

so it makes sense what i mean i'm not going to say offset's not taking it as hard as cravo i'm definitely not saying i don't really like to compare grievances but this part right here when cravo literally says it's hard to see mama love without you and then he repeats it hard to see mama love without you and then his like voice cracks um and then he goes into the the chorus it makes it really you know when it be like uh the the tough man way to cry be like man made me shed the thug tear like i ain't gonna lie to you when when you hear that part it's like you really feel the pain and offsets and quavo's voice and that's the last line you hear before the chorus making it seem like when he was in the studio making it

his voice actually cracked and they just had to cut away and give him some time because if you listen to it. Let me see if I can find it. I'm looking at the actual, um, I'm on the actual video right now. Even a video to him just sitting there listening to the track. It's just, it's really, oh yeah, here it goes right here. Okay, so it's like right before the chorus. Here we go. And then listen to the second time he says it. Like, this is crazy. And there's that pause and then he goes straight to the chorus. So it makes me feel like, of course I'm speculating, but makes me feel like he was in the studio, his voice actually cracked. And he had to take some time. And then so they was just like, well, you know, we can leave it right there.

So they let the chorus run, of course. So after he says that, and he goes into the chorus, and then he goes into the outro, which the outro is ridiculous. Like this, like this is one of the most emotionally-filled tracks. I think I've listened to in a while because it's when music is based off of real events,

it makes it hit harder, which is why a lot of criminals are rapping and people be like, I love this music because I know they're actually committing. crimes. I'm not going to say who. Let's just say one of them might be locked up right now. But anyways, um, Quavo says at the end of this track, he says, take, take, take, like three times. And of course, he's singing it, but I'm not going to sing for you. I mean, come on now. And then, uh, he follows the other takes up by, I'm sorry, which that part was like,

like, you know how you finish a track, a tribute track with I'm sorry? Because like, in general, I don't think it's right. But a lot of people said take off. wasn't even involved anything with the dice game and with the arguments that was happening. He was just in the cut, just dare to support his brother. They said Cuevo was arguing with somebody and got to the point where shots were fire and takeoff, you know, unfortunately got hit. Somebody, I believe somebody else died as well. But, you know, of course, the fans and the public, the masses only care about takeoff.

And I'm not saying that in a bad way, even though it is a bad way. but I'm basically saying that to say like the way that people pick and choose who to be sorry for is very interesting but with Cuevo it makes perfect sense because that's your brother. You know, you have personal ties to them just like people have personal ties on the internet. So that's how I would explain it

because somebody else I believe got shot and died at that incident. Like it was a very gruesome occurrence. So anyways, at the end of the track, like this one was crazy, right? this is when Quavel is ending off the track and just listen to how he sings this. And then that part is just like ridiculous because like if you listen to the sample, it's like it's really, it's like heartbreaking because it's like he really lost a brother.

And people like, even I like sometimes I'm just to be like, wow, like takeoff really like it's gone. You know, it kind of makes you think when you put yourself in Quavo shoes like man, what if like, like how could I deal with the fact if one of my, you know, close ones to me passed away? You know what I mean? It's like one of those type of things where you put yourself in his shoes, you listen to this track and you really get emotional to the point where it, man, you may actually start crying. I ain't going to lie to you. Like, it's one of those type of tracks. When you listen to it type of tracks, where you listen to it, bro, I would not. Maybe some of you, like, listen to this have been through that. And y'all know, exactly what he's talking about. Because French Montana, when he lost chinks, he said that he could, you know, he could relate to what Cuevo's going through because that's how he felt. He was in a dark space. That's why, you know, the reaching out to Quavo to trying to keep him in good spirits because you don't want Quavo to do anything to himself. You don't want him to change forever in a negative light. You know, I feel like in general they were so close that take a quavo would know they take off and want him to keep, you know, killing it in the game.

Definitely wrong choice of words. But definitely want to keep being successful in the game and rising to heights just to honor takeoff and status. So I think in general, the way that you. You look at French Montana and him losing chinks. It's the same way you can look at Cuevo, look and takeoff, losing takeoff. I mean, they lost a brother. And at the end of the day, when I'm looking at this whole situation, it's very heartbreaking to hear this track and not feel some type of way.

You know, it's very hard to hear this track and not feel some type of way. So it's like, this is definitely one of my favorite tracks of 2023. I like when music comes from a real place, and it's unfortunate that the real place had to be takeoff actually passing away so uh i was looking at the fact i was trying to bring it up so quavo uh who lost his me so take off is quavo's nephew and i don't know what the relation is the opposite one of them was brothers i mean you know they they hang they call themselves you know how you hang out with somebody to the point where it's like okay now like i know we not may not be brothers by blood but we're like actually brothers because we've been together for so long

and took care of each other. Now it's like, we might as well be brothers. It's like to that point with Cuevo and take off and definitely Offset. You know, I haven't talked about him too much throughout the segment because if you've seen some of the behind the scene stuff, you understand why Offset may be in a worse spot than Cuevo because it's like, you know, some of the actions that he did separated himself from the group and then this happens.

It's like, how do you come back in? Like, if Offset put out a tribute, I don't know if it would hit as hard in the public than Cuevo because I don't know. I feel like Cuevo stuck with the family more. But, you know, I mean, how could I say that? You know, I'm an outsider looking at. But that was just my two cents on why I didn't involve offset that much throughout the segment. So anyways, I don't want to keep going because, you know, it's just very,

very emotionally filled and driven track, which, you know, it's very unfortunate, but it's glad to see him doing what he does best and putting it as a tribute to his nephew takeoff. So click my link to your bio. Let me know one of my social medias. What do you think about the question? track without you and do you think that this is one of the best tracks best hip hop tracks of all time