Remembering Pop Smoke: Bringing the Thrill to Drill

By Justin Kuczborski

Following the sky rocketing rise of Brooklyn rapper, Pop Smoke, the growth in popularity of drill music and the prevalence of the style in the rap industry followed. Drill music first originated in Chicago, popularized by Chicago artist Chief Keef in 2012 with his single “I Don’t Like” featuring Lil Reese. Chicago drill lyrics covered the dangerous life and violent lifestyle one would live in Chicago, or what some people call “Chi-raq,” which is in comparison of the Chicago gang life to the war zone country of Iraq. Drill made its way over to the United Kingdom, where to this day it is still a popping genre of rap, where artists like Headie One, Skepta, Giggs, and many more dominate the scene. Nowadays drill is everywhere; you even can find drill artists in Asia and Africa, and that is all thanks to one man.

In 2019, drill music became popular once again, when Pop Smoke came out with blasting and hard songs like “Flexin,” “Welcome to the Party,” and most notably, “Dior.” Pop Smoke released his first mixtape, Meet the Woo Vol. 1 in July 2019. Pop Smoke even got Skepta and Nicki Minaj to feature on the “Welcome to the Party” remixes respectively. After the success of Meet the Woo Vol. 1, drill was all the rage during the summer in 2019 and into the winter. Pop Smoke even featured on Travis Scott’s compilation album, JackBoys, which included artists signed to Scott’s label, Cactus Jack Records, on the song “Gatti.” Pop Smoke still couldn’t miss, as he dropped Meet the Woo Vol. 2, with features from Quavo on “Shake the Room,” A Boogie wit da Hoodie on “Foreigner,” fellow Brooklyn rapper Lil Tjay on both “Mannequin” and “War,” and also with arguably the second most popular drill artist at the time, Fivio Foreign, on the song “Sweetheart.” Unfortunately, Pop Smoke was not able to reap the benefits and glory from Meet the Woo Vol. 2 as he was shot and killed in a Hollywood Hills Airbnb in California during a home invasion in February 2020. Pop Smoke’s legacy lives on as in the summer of 2020 his first posthumous album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon and the deluxe version of the aforementioned album dropped with countless features from some of the most popping artists in the game today, like Quavo, Future, Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, DaBaby, Swae Lee, Tyga, and the man who heavily influenced Pop Smoke’s career, 50 Cent.

50 Cent’s influence on Pop Smoke’s music is there for all to see, as in Pop Smoke’s song “Got It On Me,” Pop samples 50 Cent’s hook from his song “Many Men (Wish Death).” In “Many Men (Wish Death),” 50 Cent says “Many men. Many, many, many, many men. Wish death 'pon me lord, I don't cry no more. Don't look to the sky no more. Have mercy on me.” These few bars are very similar to the hook Pop Smoke uses on “Got It On Me,” where Pop raps “Have mercy on me, have mercy on my soul. Don't let my heart turn cold. Have mercy on me, have mercy on my soul. Don't let my heart turn cold. Have mercy on many men. Many, many, many, many men. Wish death 'pon me. Yeah, I don't cry no mo' I don't look to the sky no mo'. 'Cause I got it on me. I got it on me. I got it on me. You can run up if you want (F*ck is you talking 'bout?).” Pop Smoke and 50 Cent lived a very similar life, fighting their gang opposition through most of their respective young lives where many people wished death upon them. In fact, 50 Cent was shot nine times in 2000 by his rap opposition, but fortunately for him, he made it out alive. As previously stated, Pop Smoke was killed in a home invasion and it was confirmed by the Los Angeles Police Department that it was carried out by Pop Smoke’s rivals, the Hoovers, who have issues with the Woo’s. 50 Cent viewed Pop Smoke like a son, as both were superstars in the music industry and Pop Smoke adopted 50 Cent’s style of “Gangsta Rap.” Who knows what the two could have accomplished together if Pop was still with us today.

While Pop Smoke went on to Woo in the heavens, drill music lived on and even prospered following his passing. Fivio Foreign has dropped singles like, “Big Drip” and “Wetty,” which have not only been a rave in Brooklyn, but all across the country. Fivio is not the only drill rapper making waves in the industry, as artists like Smoove’L, Rah Swish, Sheff G, Sleepy Hallow, 22Gz, and more have been leading the drill industry. Countless rappers and producers are looking to capitalize on the rise in popularity of drill music and drill beats, and it appears the genre of music will not go anywhere as long as the top dogs remain on the throne Pop Smoke left behind.