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Pop Smoke

Bashar Barakah Jackson (July 20, 1999), who went by the name Pop Smoke, was an American rapper from New York City who released his debut mixtape Meet the Woo in 2019. His follow-up, Meet the Woo 2, went to Number 7 on the Billboard 200. His 2019 track “Welcome to the Party” was remixed with Nicki Minaj and Skepta and he collaborated with acts such as Lil Tjay and Travis Scott. He was shot and killed by intruders at his home in Los Angeles in February 2020. He was 20-years-old. However, Pop Smoke’s career was far from being over; his posthumous studio debut Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon saw the light in July 2020 and debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200, also reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, and several European countries. Due to Pop Smoke’s sudden passing, the album was finished by executive producer 50 Cent and featured guest spots by Quavo, Lil Baby, Future, and many more. Released in 2021, his second posthumous album Faith would meet a similar fate—with a star-studded lineup of collaborators such as Kanye West, Rick Ross, and Dua Lipa, the album went straight to the top of the Billboard 200 and accumulated hundreds of millions of plays on streaming platforms in just one week.