Tracy AwinoAs expected, Pop Smoke‘s debut album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, has officially hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with 251,000 units and 268.44 million on-demand streams.
Pop Smoke joins the likes of fellow rappers XXXTentacion, Tupac Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G., who had a posthumous album hit #1 after their untimely deaths.
As executive producer of the album, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson tapped a roster of music’s hottest rappers, from Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, Quavo, King Combs and more. It also interpolates 50’s 2000s classics “Candy Shop” on “The Woo” and a remake of “Many Men” from ’50s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ debut.
“When I met [Pop Smoke], I told him it was time to do my records over,” 50 Cent explained to Billboard regarding Pop’s posthumous track, “Got It On Me.” “Those [first two albums of mine] are [from] ’03 and ’05. If there’s something that struck a chord in you and it’s dope, the new artist is supposed to use that or make their version of it.”
As his protégé, 50 said he declined any money for the album but finished it based “on the culture and his relationship with Pop Smoke.”
The late rapper was fatally shot in a Los Angeles home invasion in February. His legacy will be remembered through his mixtapes Meet the Woo Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and smash anthems like “Shake the Room,” “Dior,” and his breakthrough single, “Welcome to the Party.”
By Rachel George
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