Fans of the late Pop Smoke will be pleased to know that his debut album is set to arrive soon. 🙏
Steven Victor, Pop Smoke's manager, hopped on social media this week to announce the forthcoming June 12 release date of the Brooklyn artist's debut album. He also posted a teaser image showing a chrome rose, which symbolizes "permanent living."
No other details surrounding the title or tracklist have been made public, and Victor noted in a tweet that this graphic was not the album cover.
Victor first confirmed a posthumous Pop Smoke album in an interview with Complex, saying, “Obviously we have our Pop Smoke album, and that's going to be super impactful [in helping the Brooklyn drill sound go global.]"
Previously, New York's own 50 Cent claimed he was going to executive produce this record, recruiting major artists like Roddy Ricch to contribute. However, no one from Pop Smoke's team has verified 50's involvement.
Back in February, the 20-year-old rapper was shockingly killed during a Los Angeles home invasion a little over a week after he had premiered his sophomore mixtape, Meet the Woo 2.
Somehow, no arrests have been made in the case, but authorities are reportedly investigating a possible link between the murder of Pop Smoke and the recent deadly shooting of fellow Brooklyn drill rapper Nick Blixky.
“There’s a chance it could be related to the Pop Smoke killing out west,” one source told New York Daily News. "A couple of people were talking junk on social media – Facebook Live – about [Blixky] being dead. It might be a little bit of a rap war with a gang nexus to it.”
Tragically, Blixky was less than a month away from the release of his debut mixtape, Different Timin, which he announced just hours before his passing.