During Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards, Pop Smoke’s mother, Audrey Jackson, took the stage to accept her son’s Top Billboard 200 Album award in his memory. “I thank you to the fans, for honoring the life and spirit of my son, so much that he continues to manifest as if he were still here in flesh,” she said of the rapper, whose posthumous debut studio album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced chart-topping singles like “For the Night “ and “What You Know Bout Love.” Said Jackson, “He created music for the kid who has to sleep four in a room, the kid who has to figure out how to get to school each day, so he can graduate and make his mom proud. He did this so that 14-year-olds would not have to kill to prove they are somebody.”
On February 19, 2020, Pop Smoke was tragically murdered during a home invasion while staying at a rental property in the Hollywood Hills, a crime for which four people were later arrested. The rapper was only 20 when he died. “That is the irony in this, so thank you to the Billboard Awards leadership for honoring my young warrior,” Jackson said, conceding her speech with her son’s given name as the crowd cheered for him: “Bashar Barakah Jackson, we call your name.”
