Bars Only: Top 5 Picks Off Pop Smoke’s Album, “Faith”

By aL Yhusuff

Bashar Barakah Jackson (July 20, 1999 – February 19, 2020), known professionally as Pop Smoke was an American rapper and singer whose life was short-lived but his career didn’t come to a halt as the rapper has successfully put out 2 posthumous albums since his demise.

This first album was posthumously released and titled Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, and was released on July 3, 2020, by Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records.

The album ranked at Number 2 on Billboard, The 20 Best Rap Albums of 2020. It won Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Rap Album at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.

Pop Smoke’s latest album “Faith” is a 20 track album that houses features with Kanye West, Pusha T, Rick Ross, The-Dream, 42 Dugg, 21 Savage, Takeoff, Lil Tjay, Swae Lee, Future, Chris Brown, Dua Lipa, Pharrell, Kid Cudi, Quavo and Kodak Black, just to name a few.

Though the album aims to supersede his previous appearance, it’s been met with some mixed reviews as some Pop Smoke’s fans are of the opinion that the album wouldn’t have been given a green check if Pop was alive.

Below are some of the views from fans;

Irrespective of what some fans think, below are some incredible records of the album.

In no particular order;

Tell The Vision which features Kanye West and Pusha T is heavy with the flows and it is kind of an inspirational song as the chorus speaks about him making it.

Look, nigga, we made it (Grr, woo, bah)

Nigga, we made it, we made it (Woo)

Nigga, we made it (Woo)

Thank God that I made it (Grrt, bah)

Nigga, we made it, we made it (Woo)

Look, momma, I made it (Grrt)

Nigga, we made it

This is one of the hottest feels on the album.

Tell The Vision ft. Kanye West & Pusha T

Manslaughter features Rick Ross and The Dream. This record suits the late-night rides in a drop-top. The blend of hip-hop and RnB makes the record a crazy one. This song makes one feel the loss of Pop Smoke especially on The Dreams hook with lines like;

Funny how the worst shit, happens to the best of them

Ooh, na, na-na, na, na-na

Crazy how the best shit happen to the rest of them

Pop Smoke had a very promising career which was cut short.

Manslaughter ft. Rick Ross & The-Dream

Beat The Speaker is a record produced by Fritzthaproducer & 808 Melo. This is a stand-alone track by the rapper and on this one, you’d really get to appreciate drill.

The rapper goes heavy with the flows.

Pop Smoke will beat the box (Box), Pop Smoke will beat the speaker (Speaker)

Ice up on my neck, Konika (Konika), dot up on your head for reachin' (Reachin')

And I'm in the Bentley truck (Truck) with a bad bitch who eat up

And I'm off the Molly geekin' (Geekin') and it's 10K a feature

Beat The Speaker

Demeanor, some review sites have termed the Dua Lipa featured song as confusing but I totally disagree with that. A blend of different genres makes music interesting and the blend of drill and pop on this record was perfectly fused.

Demeanor ft. Dua Lipa

Finally, the last track, Merci Beaucoup which closes the album, might just be a farewell track as it means Thank you very much in French.

Catch a opp and I'm takin' his jewelry

Catch a opp and I'm takin' his jewelry, wait (Woo, woo, woo, woo)

Catch a opp and I'm takin' his jewelry

Catch a opp and I'm takin' his jewelry

The chorus sounds like a foresight since the rapper's death occurred during a jewelry theft incident.

Merci Beaucoup

Pop Smoke’s Faith is a decent album based on the fact that it’s a posthumous release and pieces of unreleased work had to be joined together.

Listen to the full album here

Faith

#BarsOnly #PopSmoke #Faith