‘Focus up’: Pop Smoke offers advice to fans on posthumous second album

‘You’ve got to be fully focused. You can’t let sh*t get in between you and your goal’

Pop Smoke offers special advice to his fans on his forthcoming album, it has emerged.

The late rapper’s self-titled second posthumous record is scheduled to be released on 16 July, with a track, “Outro”, released to mark the announcement.

Pop Smoke is heard saying: “That’s why we try to tell the young n****s like, stay focused, you understand?” he says on the track. “You know what I’m saying, keep your mind straight on the prize. Don’t let anything get in between.”

“Focus up. You’ve got to be fully focused. You can’t let sh*t get in between you and your goal,” he said.

He adds: “You tell them n****s ‘Shoot for the stars, aim for the moon’.” Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon was the title of the first album released after his death.

The 19-track record featured several guests including 50 Cent, Roddy Rich, Future, Swae Lee, Quavo and more, and saw Pop Smoke achieve a posthumous No 1 album in the UK, making him the first solo artist to achieve the feat.

The late rapper, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson was shot and killed aged 20 in a suspected armed burglary in Los Angeles, on 19 February 2020.

According to LA law officials, a number of masked men broke into his property in the Hollywood Hills at approximately 4:30am.

Five suspects were arrested in July 2020 in connection with the shooting.