He may be gone but Pop Smoke’s legacy lives on.
A year after the release of his debut ‘Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon’, the late Brooklyn rapper’s second posthumous album ‘Faith has arrived’.
The 50 Cent co-executive produced posthumous LP became the longest-running No. 1 hip-hop/R&B album since 1990 earlier this year, having sold more than 7 million units and is the longest-running album on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart since 1990.
Republic Records and Victor Victor Worldwide first announced the all-new Faith last month. Pop Smoke’s manager, Steven Victor, confirmed the title Sunday. Three weeks ahead of its release, an official trailer for Faith premiered on Pop Smoke’s YouTube Channel. In the clip, the late Grammy-nominated hitmaker is heard saying, “I always knew I was gonna be something good. I feel like it’s coming back to New York.
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“When you keep winning, they can’t stop you,” he says. “The fake can never succeed at nothing. When you know what you want, don’t let anybody get in between you and your creation. I ain’t trying to just be cool, we gotta make history.”
The Brooklyn native (real name: Bashar Barakah Jackson) was killed on Feb. 19, 2020, at age 20. Ahead of his death, Smoke released the fan-favorite mixtapes Meet the Woo and Meet the Woo 2. The latter debuted on Feb. 7, 2020, just two weeks before Pop Smoke was fatally shot in a home invasion in Los Angeles.
Released on July 3, 2020, Pop Smoke’s first studio album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has charted for 52 weeks. It also gained international success, hitting No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums tally, where it charted for 45 weeks, and charting in Greece, Germany, Australia and Italy.
Pop Smoke’s team has since then looked towards redoing another collection of unreleased Smoke tracks hence the new 20-track set ‘Faith’.
It boasts collaborations with music’s biggest names including Rick Ross, Future, Takeoff, Quavo, Kodak Black, The-Dream, and Swae Lee.
Kanye West and Pusha-T join the Woo on “Tell the Vision”, while Chris Brown (“Woo Baby”) and Pharrell (“Spoiled”) also lend their star power. Dua Lipa’s rumored collaboration comes to fruition on “Demeanor,” and Kid Cudi adds his touch to “8-Ball.”
The 56minute total play time ‘Faith’ LP is out now everywhere. Listen to it below:
