Offset Turns a New Page at 29

Offset rose to fame as a member of hip-hop powerhouse Migos, but he has since established his own identity, releasing a Grammy-nominated solo album, Father of 4, in February 2019. He’s stepping into fashion design with a capsule collection within Chaz A. Jordan’s Laundered Works Corp. at this upcoming Paris Fashion Week. And he will make his film debut as a computer engineer in American Sole, a Pete Davidson and O’Shea Jackson Jr. vehicle about two friends who turn to the resale sneaker market to absolve college debt.

If Offset playing a computer engineer sounds unexpected, that’s by design: “When you’re a rapper, a lot of times people just think you have to be the gangsta in the film or some mob boss,” he explained. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t play that role, but this is my debut in film, so I wanted to challenge myself. The first time I got into acting was on NCIS as a seasoned agent. Not the stereotype of what artists usually do. And I shocked the world.”

Of course, music is still the main thing. Offset estimates he’s been in the studio recording Migos’ fourth album five or six days a week—considerably more than the two days of recording the group usually fits around their touring schedule in non-pandemic times. He acknowledges that Migos hasn’t dropped an album since 2018’s Culture II, and he’s optimistic that this slowed-down time will produce even better work.

“We’ve been shooting videos, behind the scenes,” he said. “We’ve got four or five in the vault already. When you’re moving fast, you don’t get to prepare for two years. Most of the time, we do a year rollout. But now it’s a two-year rollout just in case [touring] doesn’t come back for two years, and then, it might be the best [work] of your career because you had the time.”