Rapper Pop Smoke was fatally shot Wednesday morning during a home invasion in Hollywood Hills, California, multiple sources told NBC News.
The Brooklyn-born artist, whose real name was Bashar Jackson, was 20.
Capt. Steven Lurie of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood division would not confirm during a news conference Wednesday morning that the victim of a home invasion on Hercules Drive in Hollywood Hills was Jackson.
The LAPD received a call at 4:55 a.m. from someone on the East Coast who said a friend inside the home had contacted them saying multiple suspects had broken into the home, and one had a handgun. Lurie said between two and six suspects entered the home, and one of them was wearing a mask.
One person in the home was shot and brought to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead “hours later,” Lurie said.
Several people who were inside the home were detained by police and released, Lurie said. No one has been arrested. Witnesses were still being interviewed by homicide detectives early Wednesday.
Lurie said it was unclear who owns the home and whether the invasion was targeted.
Public property records connect “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Teddi Mellencamp, who is musician John Mellencamp’s daughter, to the property.
She made a statement on Instagram confirming a shooting at a rental property.
“Early this am we were informed by a 3rd party leasing and management company overseeing a rental home we own in Los Angeles that a shooting had taken place at the property,” Mellencamp wrote. “Foremost, we would like to extend our prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this tragic loss of life.”
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Jackson released his breakout hit “Welcome to the Party” in April 2019. Nicky Minaj remixed the song, which was originally a part of Jackson’s debut mixtape, “Meet the Woo.”
Minaj posted a tribute to Jackson on Instagram on Wednesday morning.
50 Cent also mourned the rapper.
In December, Jackson collaborated with JackBoys and Travis Scott on “Gatti.”
“We was in the lab last night comparing Pop Smoke to 50 when he came out. #RIP,” rapper Freddie Gibbs tweeted.
“Damn. The future was bright for Pop Smoke. This is tragic. Brooklyn is in mourning right now,” rapper Talib Kweli echoed on Instagram.
In September, Jackson was profiled in a New York Times piece that ran with the headline “The Rapid Rise of Pop Smoke, Brooklyn Rap’s Homecoming King.”
“As a rapper, Pop Smoke metes out verses in tight clusters while still sounding relaxed, as if untroubled by the battles he knows are just around the corner,” the article said. “It’s a callback to the likes of DMX and M.O.P., or the early days of 50 Cent and G-Unit.”
“The way he attacks the track is definitely those type of guys,” D.J. Funkmaster Flex was quoted saying in the piece. “I love his energy, his vibe, his song.”
Jackson, the child of Panamanian and Jamaican parents, told Genius that Pop Smoke was born of a combination of Papa, which his Panamanian grandma used call him, and Smoke Oh Guap, a nickname his friends gave him.
Jackson ran into a legal problem in January when he was accused of transporting a stolen Rolls-Royce across state lines. Jackson and the owner of the car had made a verbal agreement in Los Angeles that Jackson could use the car in an upcoming music video in exchange for the owner receiving special treatment at a Pop Smoke concert.
Jackson was supposed to return the car after the video shoot, but the owner tracked the car by GPS to Arizona, and also said a photo of Jackson and the car in New York had been posted to social media. That’s when the owner reported the luxury car stolen.
Earlier this month, Jackson dropped his second mixtape, “Meet the Woo V.2.” It debuted at No. 7 on the Top 200 chart, Billboard tweeted Tuesday.
Jackson’s attorney told NBC News he did not have a comment “at this time relating to the events of this morning.”
The rapper had retweeted a fan less than an hour before his death.
“I am so distraught right now. May he rest in power,” that fan tweeted Wednesday morning. “I can’t stop crying.”
