Pop Smoke was a rising rap star from Brooklyn. He began recording in 2018 and made an impression across the Atlantic with U.K. drill producer 808 Melo. Two mixtapes later, his Brooklyn-U.K. drill style was garnering a lot of attention, including from 50 Cent. The executive producer and rising star met, and a debut album was in the works. Pop Smoke’s career looked to be ascending to the next stratosphere of fame, and the title of his posthumous album reflected that with Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon. This trajectory was cut short two weeks after the release of his second mixtape. In February 2020, Pop Smoke was murdered during a home invasion in L.A. He was 20 years old.
Friends, producers, and artists who were fans put together Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon from the music Pop Smoke had been recording in preparation for the album. His voice is a low growl, spitting unabashed about a life surrounded by violence and gang life. He’s neither glorifying nor condoning the near-constant threats and death he grew up around. It is an honest account, told from a lot of experience growing up fast. While uncouth, he’s genuine, and it is likely this realness that propelled him from the start.
Pop Smoke was in the first year of his twenties, and he was making music that landed on the Billboard charts that appealed to young men like himself. Between dodging guns and rivals, Pop Smoke raps about making money, fuckin’, and staying armed to protect himself from harm. His music showcases another side of America, with a lot of bounce for outsiders to get behind the rhythm.
Little could anyone have guessed that a month after his death, a pandemic and ensuing quarantine would grip the world. Another month later, the murder of George Floyd forced the United States to once again confront its origins and the vast racial disparities present in the global superpower advertised as the freest nation in the world. In less than half a year, the artist Pop Smoke missed out on so much. With time, who knows how his music would have grown in response to the rapidly changing times.
There would still be obstacles if he were alive today. The New York Police Department was keeping an eye on him for weapons charges, making it difficult for him to perform{NYT}. Success does not always alleviate problems and very often magnifies them, but during his career, Pop Smoke made friends who gave him a solid send-off. His name is forever set in the potential of what could have been, but for the most part, this is more of a memorial than a review. The music he recorded, and the people in his life, will speak for him in his stead.
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