Timeline

• July 20, 1999

  Bashar Barakah Jackson was born on July 20, 1999, in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jamaican mother, Audrey Jackson, and a Panamanian father, Greg Jackson. He has an older brother named Obasi. Jackson attended nine different schools while growing up in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He played the African drums in his local church as a child.

• January 28, 2019

  He first attempted rapping during a 2018 visit to a Brooklyn recording studio with Jay Gwuaop. Rapping over a beat from 808Melo's YouTube channel, Jackson recorded a track titled "MPR (Panic Part 3 Remix)" during the session. On January 28, 2019, he released "Flexin'".

• April 23rd, 2019

  Pop Smoke released his breakout single, "Welcome to the Party", that was produced by 808Melo. Many remixes of the song were later recorded, with the commercially released versions featuring Nicki Minaj and the other featuring Skepta. Jackson released his debut mixtape Meet the Woo on July 26, 2019.

• June 2019

  After his arrest, police questioned him about a non-fatal shooting that took place in Brooklyn in June 2019. The police thought he had information on the shooting because they claimed to have footage of him driving a car in reverse near the scene of the crime. The police also tried to pressure Jackson into telling them more information about the Crips, GS9, and other Brooklyn street gangs, but he refused to talk.

• January 17, 2020

  On January 17, 2020, after returning from Paris Fashion Week, Jackson was arrested by federal authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport after stealing a Rolls-Royce Wraith, valued at $375,000, whose owner reported it stolen after Jackson had reportedly borrowed it in California for a music video shoot on the condition it would be returned the next day. Investigators believed he arranged for the car to be transported on a flatbed truck to New York.

• February 19, 2020

  n February 19, 2020, Jackson was renting a house through Airbnb owned by The Real Housewives star Teddi Mellencamp and her husband, Edwin Arroyave, in Hollywood Hills, California. At around 4:30 a.m., five hooded men, including one wearing a ski mask and carrying a handgun, broke into the house through a second-story balcony while Jackson was taking a shower. The intruders held a gun to a woman's head and threatened to kill her. Shortly thereafter, the woman heard the men shoot Jackson three times after an altercation.

• March 2020

  Dior", the second single off Meet the Woo, became Jackson's first posthumous solo hit, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 33 on the UK Singles Chart. At the beginning of March 2020, American rapper 50 Cent announced on his Instagram that he had decided to executive produce and finish Jackson's debut studio album. After his announcement, 50 Cent called artists like Roddy Ricch, Drake, and Chris Brown wanting to feature them on the record.

• April 16, 2020

  On April 16, 2020, a documentary on Pop Smoke's life was announced to be in the works. On May 14, 2020, Victor announced that Pop Smoke's debut studio album would be posthumously released on June 12, 2020. The album would be known as Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. It was originally set for release on June 12, 2020, but was pushed back out of respect for the George Floyd protests.

• July 03, 2020

  All 19 songs on the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100, with "For the Night" featuring Lil Baby and DaBaby, debuting and peaking at number six, giving Pop Smoke his first top-10 hit in the US. On July 20, 2020, on what would have been Jackson's 21st birthday, a deluxe edition of the album was released, and featured 15 new additional tracks.

• July 16, 2021

  A second posthumous album titled Faith was released on July 16, 2021. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.