By NAN ET Editor
News Americas, LOS ANGELES, CA, Mon. May 24, 2021: A Caribbean and Panamanian-roots rapper who died in February 2020 following a home invasion, was last night honored at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards posthumously.
Pop Smoke, who was born in Canarsie, Brooklyn, NY, and whose rooted extended to Jamaica and Panama, was honored in death with five 2021 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, more than a year after his death. His mother Audrey Jackson is Panamanian mother and his father Greg Jackson is Jamaican.
The rapper, whose real name was Bashar Barakah Jackson, won Top New Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Rap Male Artist, and Top Rap Album for Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. Some even believe Pop Smoke is related to 50 Cent, which isn’t true.
Pop Smoke also won Best New Hip-Hop Artist at the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards and received a 2021 GRAMMY nomination for Best Rap Performance for “Dior.”
Jackson was shot and killed during a home invasion robbery in February 2020. Police later arrested four men, all in their teens, in connection to the crime.
