Before Pop Smoke would drop viral hits including Meet The Woo, Dior, Welcome To The Party,
and his mixtape The Woo Volume 1 in the summer of 2019.
Before Pop Smoke would collab with Nicki Minaj, French Montana, Lil Tjay, Calboy, YG, Travis
Scott, Skepta and get shout outs from the likes of Cardi B.
Before Pop Smoke would clock in over 1 Million Instagram followers, nearly 1/2 a million
on YouTube & 63K on Twitter at the time of this recording.
After emerging on the scene at the very end of 2018, Pop Smoke had lots of highly regarded
insiders citing 2019 as HIS year with 'Welcome To The Party' being one of the biggest songs
of the summer!
Coming out of New York he appeared to have everyone's support and was filling a void
for the east coast internet rap scene left open by the incarceration of Tekashi 69.
Pop Smoke was at the forefront of New York’s new bustling drill scene movement but his
life could of gone in a much different direction.
Once upon a time he was well on his way to securing a College Basketball Scholarship
but a health issue had him shift his focus to rap but before he could make money doing
that he would get caught up in street life, something it seems that in the end actually
cost him his life.
On February 19th 2020 Pop Smoke was murdered in what is currently believed to be a home
invasion.
His final social media posts were of him in Los Angeles enjoying the pool, getting his
hair cut, doing some press and promoting his latest mixtape.
Brutal news.... the dude was only 20 years old.
What's going on guys?
It's your boy Michael McCrudden sadly here with a Before They Were Gone video.
We actually had a Pop Smoke Before They Were Famous video in the works for some time now.
I've been away from the channel for over a month now.
Damn, these ain't the types of videos I was hoping to come back to have to make.
These videos take a hell of a lot of time and research to piece together and we try
and make them as respectful and informative as possible so let's all show our respect
for the departed in the comments and anywhere online... aright let's get into this video.
Pop Smoke was born Bashar Barakah Jackson on July 20, 1999 in Brooklyn, New York the
child of Panamanian and Jamaican parents and has one sister.
His family hail from an area known as Canarsie, an area with West Indian influence comprised
mainly of working and middle class residential and commercial buildings in the southeastern
portion of the borough of Brooklyn.
In an interview with XXL Pop Smoke explained:
“When you’re a kid from the hood, you’ve only got three options: play ball, sell drugs
or rap.
I did all three—I was good at all of them”
When he was 13, he took a slap on a Brooklyn street, an incident that was filmed and blew
up on social media.
I was actually able to find an old video that has made it to World Star Hip Hop.
Speaking on this altercation he later said:
“I’m glad it happened as a kid, I realized it’s time to boss up — life ain’t sweet.”
If you feeling bad for Pop Smoke in that video don't fret – 7 years later he caught up
to those same guys who were given him a hard time and he got his revenge.
There might of been a reason 13 year old Pop Smoke was getting picked on, at the time he
was a good kid.
He grew up playing basketball, running the court as a point and shooting guard.
His potential in the sport even got him relocated to the suburbs of Philadelphia where he was
enrolled at Rocktop Academy, this is one of several prep schools around the country whose
sole purpose is to get their students attention for college basketball scholarships.
Unfortunatly for him they discovered a heart murmur when he was 15 years old which squashed
any dreams of him ever going pro.
He couldn’t play competitively anymore but that don't mean he stopped schooling his friends
in his spare time.
With ball out of the picture he decided to turn to his other 2 options, rap and drugs.
A lifelong fan of 50 Cent, DMX, Lloyd Banks rap seemed like the obvious choice but before
he could make money as a rapper, he needed to sell on the streets to get himself ahead.
Growing up, Pop Smoke’s teenage years were described by The New York Times as
“high-risk, high-reward.”
“You like nice things, you got to do things to get nice things.”
“At 16 I had a 5 Series.”
Money was good but this doesn't mean street life didn't come with it's own problems.
Eventually he got kicked outta school for bringing a gun to school.
He got locked up twice and later was put on house arrest for two years for a weapons charge.
After that he was forced to wear an ankle bracelet as part of a diversion program until
the charges were dismissed.
When asked what he did during all that time at home, he explains, “Read.
I like to read and fuck a lot of bitches, so I’m good.”
He was also believed to have have ties to a Brooklyn gang called 23 G Stone Crips but
it wasn't just gang bangers he was hanging out with.
His close friend Jay Gwuapo was mad serious about making it in rap and the two would chill
out together at a studio.
When Gwuapo got so high he fell asleep, Pop stepped into the booth to try rapping for
the first time, just to see if he could do it.
He used a beat he snagged from YouTube and that became his track “MPR” which exploded
on Spotify and YouTube out of nowhere.
It wasn't long before he was getting offers and signed to Victor Victor Worldwide under
Universal Music Group.
Deciding to get out gang life while he had a clear shot Pop Smoke started getting to
work on his new emerging career but needed some beats.
He decided to return to the YouTube channel where he grabbed his first instrumental and
touched based with UK producer 808 Melo.
Melo at the time just getting into music himself while pursing a degree in graphic design the
two quickly hit it off and became close collaborators, Melo flew out to New York multiple times and
Melo produced everything on Meet The Woo Vl 1 Ep.
With Pop Smoke's deep no-nonsense growl—the type of voice and Melo's UK influence the
two developed a new form of Drill music the likes of New York hadn't seen in some time.
Following of the release of his official mixtape Welcome To The Woo in July of 2019 word of
his music spread quickly with the single Welcome To The Party, a song that took him 30 minutes
to produce at home becoming the unofficial 2019 Summer hit and was remixed by the likes
of Nicki Minaj and Skepta.
Speaking on his name Pop Smoke, he explained to Genius that it's a combination of Papa
a nickname given to him by his Panamanian grandmother and Smoke Oh Guap a nickname given
to him by childhood friends.
With more tracks entertaining an audience, like MPR, Flexin, PTSD, Dior Pop Smoke was
garnering about all the buzz and attention any young rapper could ever dream of.
The artists was set to perform at Rolling Loud in New York before his criminal past
began to bring up some new problems due to his old behaviours.
Along with Cassanova, Don Q, Sheff G, 22GZ Pop Smoke was pulled from performing with
Rolling Loud releasing a statement which read:
“The above listed performers have been affiliated with recent acts of violence citywide.
The New York City Police Department believes if these individuals are allowed to perform,
there will be a higher risk of violence.”
He'd have another un in with the law on accusations that he transported a stolen Rolls Royce Wraith
from California to New York,and the rapper’s mother’s house was put up as part of the
bond deal to have him released.
Speaking about the incident a month later, Pop tries to brush the whole thing off.
“I’m not a gang leader, I’m not a gang banger,” he says.
“I’m none of that.
I’m a dog, the woo.
That’s it.
An artist.”
Pop Smoke was definitely trying to put his past behind him, in his interview with the
New York Times he stated that he was making music that would speak to young people like
him who “got to carry their guns to school because it ain’t safe, but they still got
to make sure they get they diploma ’cause they mom could be happy.
I do it for them.”
That takes us to today, or yesterday.
Pop Smoke was last seen on social media enjoying his pool at a Hollywood Hills home he was
renting.
The address made it's way onto the internet by one of his friends.
He was fatally shot and killed during a home invasion and was pronounced dead in the early
hours of Februray 19th 2020.
Absolutely tragic, this kid showed so much potential as rap star, an ambassador for the
east coast, a trend setter a super star.
I'm sorry to hear the news.
I'm gonna wrap this video up here.
Please leave your condolences you know where and I'll see you guys in another video.