By Tyler Banks

Handling the death of an artist is always tough. As a fan, you lose someone’s music you enjoyed; as a parent, you lose someone you loved; and as a label, you lose possibly both — but with the addition of a bygone revenue stream. However- especially in this age- the concept of a posthumous release has shown great success in terms of immediate revenue for labels while still carrying the name of the late artist to show “respect” and “remembrance.”

Unfortunately, the handling of a late artist’s posthumous release is often handled so poorly that it diminishes the name of the people they were trying to keep alive. One instance follows XXX Tentacion’s Skins release. Reckoned by the lack of overall care and production, the album performed defectively for using literal voice memos in songs.

Thankfully this issue isn’t found in Pop Smoke’s project, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon — it is quite the contrary, in fact. Pop Smoke had over 300+ songs ready to be used and it shows in the project’s quality. Not to mention, the great 50 Cent was an executive producer on this undertaking and his ear for melody truly brought out the superiority in these records.

On this recent collection, the rapper goes for a much different approach in his music stylistically along with the overall subject matter of his songs. So here is an insight on the best tracks played in this album:

44 BullDog is, unsurprisingly, a song that is the most similar to what made Pop Smoke famous and it is definitely listed on the favorites. Sporting a gruff and grimy sound, 44 BullDog is the only one on this list that has any relation to Pop Smoke’s original sound and it is fire.

Yea Yea is everything that people didn’t think Pop Smoke was capable of. This is the type of song you can play with the windows down with your partner  in the passenger seat as you ride into the sunset. It’s slow, catchy, and has a smooth operator vibe that the listener can’t resist.

Creature is another song, with Pop Smoke’s famous signature sound. The energetic record is backed by a powerful beat and a solid feature by Swae Lee. Easily one of his best records on the album.

Diana was one of the four last six songs that surfaced R&B oriented — and this is definitely the best out of the four. The beat has such a smooth touch as a result of the sample from Playa’s, Cheers 2 U, and Pop Smoke slides right on it perfectly. King Combs had an awesome verse as well, which really drove the record home. 

Got It On Me is the ultimate pre-outro record. The choir in the background gives the record a holy yet eerie feel that perfectly captivates the listener. The clear influence from 50 Cent’s Many Men is here as Pop Smoke goes as far as to use direct lyrics from the record however, it never feels like a cheap knockoff. This song is the perfect representation of what could’ve been and it’s honestly sad that fans can never experience this again.

Similar to DaBaby’s recent album, Blame It On Baby, he took a softer approach to his music. However, Pop Smoke almost commits to that idea — a notion evident toward the end of the album, to which four of the last six songs foster an R&B vibe. 

And that’s not all. A majority of the collection would have the audience thinking that the musician rarely gets into his grittier side; rather, he is more of a smoother Wale type of rapper. Not to say that this is a bad thing, but call a spade a spade, it’s in the music.

The posthumous release is unique from Pop Smoke’s previous two projects, Meet The Woo 1&2. It features a great deal New York Drill on a UK Drill beat, gratifying what he was known for. In a sense, he helped to bridge a gap between the American and UK hip hop scene through his work. 

This 18 track album had a wide variety of music though, and it really shows how Pop Smoke was genuine in his move to evolve as an artist. From his music, fans could hear where he would have taken them within the next 5 years — and now, the only reminiscence of those euphoric days lie in the exhilarating pieces that he had left behind.