Album Review: Pop Smoke’s Posthumous Record ‘Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon’ is a Gut Punch of Potential

After getting to know “the Woo,” Pop Smoke was ready and poised to take his career to new heights.

Written by Thomas Galindo

Pop Smoke’s album is the #1 album in the country. But, there was a price to pay for this recognition. On the morning of February 19, 2020, Bashar Barakah Jackson, better known as Pop Smoke, was killed in a home invasion in Los Angeles at the age of 20. At the time, the Brooklyn-raised drill rapper was one of the hottest rappers around following the releases of his two commercial mixtapes, Meet the Woo 1 & 2. He first made noise as an artist with his April 2019 single, “Welcome to the Party,” earning the late rapper a gold record. It was a fresh sound, taking from a popular British drill trend, and adding New York grit to it. The song had New York buzzing, and would soon receive remixes from Nicki Minaj and Skepta. He dropped the first rendition of his Meet the Woo series in late July 2019, which included tracks “Welcome to the Party” and “Dior,” which could be considered his most popular song to date, peaking at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Another memorable song is “PTSD,” a gritty, head-bopping track reminiscent of one of Pop’s idols, 50 Cent. The “In Da Club” rapper would soon meet and take a liking to Pop Smoke, saying, “Nah this n---- not copying 50 Cent. This n---- is 50 Cent!"

In December 2019, Pop Smoke linked up with Travis Scott to produce “Gatti” for Cactus Jacks Records’ compilation record JACKBOYS. This collab became one of Pop’s most popular songs, peaking at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the track, he coined the phrase, “you cannot say Pop, and forget the Smoke.” Travis’ trademark autotune seems to have influenced Pop outside of their work in the studio, as heard in tracks Pop’s later tracks “Invincible” and “Christopher Walking” on Meet the Woo 2, which dropped on February 7. This mixtape not only includes solo tracks like “Dior,” but also many solid features and co-signs such as Quavo, Gunna, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and Nav, which fortified his rise to hip-hop relevance. It would only be less than two weeks later that he would have his life tragically cut short.

On March 1, 50 Cent announced that he would be an executive producer of Pop Smoke’s posthumous album. It was originally slated for June 12, but his manager Steven Victor announced on June 10 that the album was being delayed to July 3 out of respect for the Black Lives Matter movement in light of the murder of George Floyd. Instead, they released single “Make It Rain” on that night, featuring New York rapper Rowdy Rebel, who is currently incarcerated for murder conspiracy charges along with Bobby Shmurda, another widely influential New York rapper. Recorded from a jail call, the audio for his verse isn’t studio quality, but the co-sign from Rowdy is just one indicator of how much New York appreciated Pop Smoke.

Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Virgil Abloh has received a lot of flack in the media recently, specifically for his donation to the Black Lives Matter movement. Then, the week of the album’s release, Virgil Abloh posted a cover for the album he’d designed. To put it gently, it sucked. Abloh was on the receiving end of countless jokes on Twitter, and 50 Cent soon took issue with it by tweeting, “Hey Virgil we need new album art, they ain’t going for this bullsh-t. Love ya work let’s get to it. Steven (Victor) [I] told you this sh-t was eww let’s get it right!” 50 Cent posted dozens of fan-made Pop Smoke covers that had been circulating the internet in hopes that one of them could be the new cover, and had fans vote on which ones were their favorites. The new cover, designed by Ryder Ripps, was announced the day before the album’s release, along with the tracklist including features from Roddy Ricch, Quavo, 50 Cent, Tyga, KAROL G, Lil Tjay, Lil Baby, DaBaby, and more.

The 19-song, 57-minute album opens with Pop Smoke arriving in his infamous “Woo” style on “Bad B-tch from Tokyo.” He raps of his beloved Dior clothes and .22 and .38 guns in what sounds like an unfinished song from his vault. “I looked my killer in his eyes, I’m talking face-to-face,” he eerily spits. The next ten tracks show Pop Smoke rapping the lyrics he traditionally would, while experimenting to a level unforeseen in his previous music . On “Aim for the Moon,” “For the Night,” and “Gangstas,” Pop opts for singing rather than his typical rap style. But surprisingly, the melodies he delivers go over smoothly. After opening the song saying “On your set with some real shit, n——-, I don't want none of that extra loud sh-t, this ain't none of that rainbow hair sh-t,” the chorus of “Gangstas is definitely one of the highlights of the record. Pop spends most of the song aiming shots at 6ix9ine, who earlier this year claimed he was the king of New York. Pop Smoke raps, “Them trollin' n——s actin' up, So n——s packed him up, Brazy was actin' tough, ‘til n——s slapped him up, Pop Smoke on top, n——-s mad as fuck.”

The first half of the album also includes marquee features that were only accessible once Pop Smoke made his way to the mainstream. Features like DaBaby, Future, Roddy Ricch, and Quavo thrice add a great deal of variety to an already versatile tracklist. Though Quavo and DaBaby’s latest releases have been underwhelming lately, they both showed out on this album. DaBaby’s verse on “For the Night” was probably the best feature on the album, ending with the bar, “rest in peace to the Pop, make me Smoke ya.” “Snitching” is practically a Quavo song with a Pop Smoke and Future feature, but it’s a great Quavo song. Future also pays great tribute to Pop Smoke in his verse with, “They want that Woo sh-t, n-----s gon’ shoot your sh-t, you ain’t Woo, n----, you ain’t gon’ do sh-t.” There’s no denying “The Woo” with Roddy Ricch and 50 Cent will top the charts — it’s a fantastic, braggadocious track where Pop knows a girl wants to be with him. With his idol on the track, Pop spits a 50-inspired verse taken from his “Candy Shop” opening with the iconic, “Let me take you to the candy shop, show you all I got.” On the next track “West Coast Sh-t,” Tyga adds a quality feature to open the song. He also doesn’t take away attention from Pop Smoke and Quavos’ excellent back-and-forth chorus. The track exemplifies the feeling of when you finally make it in the industry and move out to Hollywood, while still representing your hometown with, “Pop Smoke I’m on some west coast sh-t, ay New York I got a west coast b-tch.”

The second half of the album is full of romantic, sexy tracks that is the largest dose of sensuality we’ve ever gotten from Pop Smoke. In Pop and Lil Tjay’s fourth collaboration for “Mood Swings,” the young New Yorkers come together for their first love song. The sexually explicit track has a relaxing chorus that, while a little off putting, due to the bar about “nutting on the covers,” is a good time. “Something Special” shows Pop Smoke madly in love, doing what the Twitter incels these days would call simping. He’s just really into this girl, and conveys that well with a groovy chorus and passion that isn’t technically Pop’s pocket, but goes over as a great take on Fabolous’ and Tamia’s classic 2003 track “Into You.”

The last track before the outro is “Got It on Me” — inspired by “Many Men (Wish Death)” from 50 Cent’s 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin’. It is by far the best track on the record, truly demonstrating Pop Smoke’s rise as the new 50 Cent. The resemblance is truly uncanny. The chorus “many, many, many, many men wish death ‘pon me” devastatingly held true, and this song will certainly give you goosebumps.

Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon reeked of potential, and an expanding arsenal of skills that Pop Smoke was compiling on his way to the peak of hip-hop. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and garnered 268.44 million streams and 251,000 sales. And if that wasn’t enough, there is also another rumored track to be added later featuring Young Thug and Gunna, after Pusha-T requested his verse be removed following his dispute with Young Thug over the content of his feature verse.

Pop Smoke’s essence exuded confidence, and his music was just blossoming into peak pop culture, rooted in the youth’s enthusiasm and New York’s hip-hop tradition. This album would have further established Pop Smoke as a voice of not only the future, but the moment. Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon sees a collision of today’s hip-hop sound with a kid from New York who grew up in the bling era of hip-hop. Pop Smoke translated his influences so well into his work, while making it innovative and inclusive of the sound of today’s hip-hop. He always appeared very sure of himself, and carried himself like a veteran despite his newbie status, all before the age of 21. New York was a huge part of him, and he knew that. In an interview with Fader, he said, “You can take the kid out the hood, but you can’t take the hood out the kid.”

Rest in Peace Pop Smoke, you are dearly missed.

REVIEWSAfterglow ATXJuly 13, 2020thomas galindo, album review