Who Is Pop Smoke

Who is Pop Smoke is today’s topic. I’ll discuss who the rapper is, where he’s from, his journey within the music industry as a Brooklyn Drill artist, and his untimely demise.

Who Is Pop Smoke?

Pop Smoke was an American rap artist from Brooklyn, New York. he was born to a Jamaican mother and a Panamanian father. His real name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, and he was known as the latest face of Brooklyn Drill. Drill music, for those of you reading this that don’t know, is a style of trap music that originated in the South Side of Chicago around 2010. It is defined by its dark, violent, and grim lyrical content and ominous trap-influenced beat.

Pop Smoke’s rap career began in 2018, he was known to collaborate with many U.K. Drill producers that gave him a different feel of drill music that you would typically get from Chicago. Pop Smoke’s rise to prominence was via a song called “Welcome To The Party” which released in April 2019.

Following his rise to fame with the single Welcome To The Party he was able to sign a record deal with Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records. In 2019 Pop Smoke released his debut mixtape called “Meet the Woo”, and its main singled “Dior”, produced by 808Melo charted #22 on the Billboard 100.

In February 2020 Smoke released his second mixtape “Meet the Woo 2” and landed #7 on the Billboard 200 chart. As the mixtape was gaining steam, and elevating pop Smoke into even more stardom, he was fatally shot in L.A. in a home invasion, two weeks after its release.

In July 2020, his postmortem debut album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the moon shot to number one on the Billboard 200, and all 19 songs from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Also Read: Why Do Rappers Get Shot?

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Pop Smoke Fatally Shot in Los Angeles

How Pop Smoke Died

Pop Smoke died on February 19, 2020 during a home invasion robbery in an L.A. home he was renting . It is alleged that the shooting was gang related. Pop Smoke was a member of the Wooo gang and they are rivals to the Choo. Both gangs are from New York.

The story goes that an L.A. gang called the Hoover Criminals, who are known to kill both blood and crip members found out where Pop Smoke was staying in L.A. due to him showcasing a gift bag with the address on it on social media. The Hoover Criminals (formally known as Hoover Crips) broke into the rental home, and shot Pop Smoke, then took his jewelry and money.

Why did the Hoover’s kill Pop Smoke? They did so for 2 reasons, one is that he’s a Crip and Hoovers hate and kill both Crips and bloods. Secondly, they wanted to rob Pop for his money and jewelry. The Hoover Criminals are notoriously know in L.A. for robbing and looting mansions in the Hollywood Hills. In Fact, it’s said by local police “Flocking” which is street slang for home burglary, are a big source of income for a lot of gangs in L.A. especially gangs that live not too far from luxury home sand mansions.

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Also Read: Why Do Rappers Drink Hennessy

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Pop Smoke’s Gang Affiliation

It’s no secret that Pop Smoke was in a gang called the Wooo. He claimed to be apart of that set in the majority of his songs, and in interviews as well. Wooo stands for We On Our Own and is part of the Wave gang. The Choo is a rival gang that is part of the Hoodstarz gang.

Both gangs were once cool with each other until their were allegations against each other of snitching. The two crews grew in disdain for one another and started to kill each other.

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Also Read: How To Become A Famous Rapper

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Four People Charged With The Murder of Pop Smoke

6 months after Pop Smoke’s was murdered police finally arrested 4 people in association with his death. The Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement that Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers were charged with murder that occurred during the commission of a robbery and burglary.

There were two other members that were involved in the burglary and they were also charged with murder. The two men were 15 and 17 and their names were not made public due to their ages.

Who Started Brooklyn Drill

In about the mid 2010s there was the rise of Brooklyn drill, which was in part influenced by drill music from Chicago. Brooklyn drill had prominent acts such as Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel, Pop Smoke, 22Gz, Sheff G, Fivio Foreign, Sleepy Hallow, Curly Savv, and Fetty Luciano just to name a few.

Brooklyn drill eventually started to add a U.K drill feel to their beats around 2018. An example of this was when Pop Smoke started to work with U.K. drill producer 8o8Melo, and Fivio Foreign teamed up with Axl Beats.

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