Quavo

No matter how zany Quavo comes across, the Atlanta rapper proves, time and again, how serious he is about achieving all his professional and personal goals. Born in Athens, Georgia in 1991, Quavious Keyate Marshall grew up with his nephew Takeoff and cousin Offset (the other two legs of his later rap group Migos), and all indications are that childhood gave the three inspiration for their loopy, radical simplicity. Marshall dropped out of high school in 2009, just months before graduation and a year after the groundwork for Migos had been laid. In the following decade, Migos attracted attention for their lax trap sound and absurdist rhymes as well as Quavo's revolutionary flow. The trailblazing rapper brought his distinctive triplet pattern style, which influenced Kanye West, to his equally rich solo career. Quavo began with appearances on two DJ Khaled singles, 2017’s chart-topping “I’m the One” and its follow-up “No Brainer”, and collaborated with Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, and Lil Yachty. His sprawling 2018 full-length solo debut, QUAVO HUNCHO, demonstrated that his storytelling skills were worthy of further study. It was the kind of brilliant start that left fans wanting to delve deeper into the rapper’s complex brain. In 2020 Quavo used pandemic downtime to further elevate his mind and realise a longtime ambition by getting his high school diploma at the age of 29—but it’s fair to say that he’d already earned a master’s degree in Southern surrealism.