Rapper Offset is breaking his silence after being shot in Florida.
The 34-year-old Migos cofounder, whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus, was injured on April 6 after a shooting that took place outside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The shooting led to the arrest of rapper Lil Tjay, 24, on charges of disorderly conduct and operating a vehicle without a valid license, according to Broward County Jail records viewed by USA TODAY.
“Thank you to everyone who’s checked in on me and showed me love! I’m good… but I’m planning to be better!” Offset said in a letter shared on Instagram on April 10. “I’m focused on my family, my recovery, and getting back to the music…realizing that life is made up of quiet wins and loud losses.”
He continued: “Life’s a gamble and I’m still playing to win.”
The “Don’t You Lie” rapper was released from the hospital and is “up and walking,” an Offset spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement. “We’re incredibly grateful to the doctors, nurses, and the entire hospital staff who took such great care of him.”Need a news break?
Following his client’s arrest, Lil Tjay’s lawyer criticized “false rumors” that the rapper had been involved in the shooting, adding that he had “not been shot, nor has Lil Tjay been charged with any shooting.”
Offset has six children, three of whom he shares with ex-wife and rapper Cardi B: Kulture, 7; Wave, 4; and Blossom, 1. The on-again-off-again couple married in 2017 and initiated divorce proceedings in 2024.
Offset shooting, Lil Tjay arrest comes after gambling debt claims
The shooting follows a tumultuous history between Offset and Lil Tjay, whose tension stems from social media threats over an alleged $10,000 debt.
Lil Tjay dissed Offset in January 2025 during an online back-and-forth exchange and later claimed that Offset owed him money in connection with a gambling issue.
“Why I diss Offset? Offset is broke,” he said during a Twitch livestream, according to iHeart and Hot New Hip Hop. Lil Tjay said he saw Offset in a casino “panicking” and asking people for Cash App transfers.
And in supposed messages between the two leaked online, Lil Tjay threatened to “smack” Offset, with the “Bodies” rapper apparently replying that he’s “gotta be the wrong” recipient. “I’ll smoke you,” he said.
Then, in a since-deleted Instagram post that March, the “Zoo York” rapper wrote that “I could never be broke like set,” referring to Offset, “running off making smoke over lunch money.”
In the comments of the post, Offset challenged Lil Tjay to fight on livestream, saying, “I’ll fly to you,” according to reporting at the time by iHeart and Hot New Hip Hop.
A streamed fight never appeared to occur, and the beef apparently went quiet until Monday, April 6, when Offset was hospitalized after being shot.
