Pop Smoke, The Rising Rap Star

Bashar Barakah Jackson, famously known as "Pop Smoke", was a 20-year-old American rapper and songwriter. Jackson was originally from New York, until his career launched and he moved to Los Angeles, California to further advance his career.

The name "Pop Smoke" comes from a nickname his grandfather gave him "Papa" as well as a nickname of "Smoke Oh Guap" given by his friends while he was a young boy.

Born on July 20, 1999, the young artist aspired to become one of the greats, as many hopeful artists dream of. He was the child of a Jamaican mother and a Panamanian father and grew up in the city of Brooklyn, New York.

Jackson started dealing drugs early in his life in order to have his own income. It wasn't long before he was caught with a weapon charge and arrested by authorities. He spent 2 years on house arrest after being caught with his possession charge. During his career he transported a stolen Rolls Royce (Estimated $375,000 value) from New York to California and was arrested not even a month before his death.

Around 2018, he started to visit recording studios and spent time listening to recording artists making tracks. It was then he started to embrace drill music, which was a common genre of music in New York City.

It wasn't long before Jackson released his first single, "Welcome to the Party", which immediately became a hit. The track was remixed with Nicki Minaj and Skepta around 4 months after it was released, which was a huge turning point in Jackson's career. He landed features from many popular artists such as Quavo, A Boogie, Lil Tjay Travis Scott, Jackboys, Gunna, and many more (Not in that order).

Not even a year of fame, Jackson had met his end. He died on February 19, 2020 when his home in Hollywood Hills, California was invaded by a group of people. The cause of death was being homicide, a gunshot wound on his torso which ultimately took his life.

There are four suspects of which invaded the home before 5:00 AM (PT), they are yet to be identified.

A musically unique wonder, Pop Smoke had a life filled with difficult choices and was a troublemaker when it came to the law. Like many popular artists (Juice Wrld, Mac Miller, Lil Peep, Nipsey Hustle, XXXTentacion, Avicii & many more), his career ended too soon.

Jackson left his mark on the music world and definitely sparked the rise of UK drill music.