Producer Rico Beats has responded to fans asking for more posthumous music from Pop Smoke, claiming that there isn’t any left.
- READ MORE: Pop Smoke – ‘Faith’ review: posthumous release eclipses its star with unnecessary features
Rico Beats was Pop Smoke’s co-manager, alongside Steven Victor of Victor Victor Records, before the rapper’s tragic death in February 2020.
On Monday (May 1), a screengrab of an exchange between Rico and a fan was shared on social media – where the Philadelphian was candid about how much the chances of the release of unheard music from Pop Smoke.
When one fan pleaded for “some news on plans for Pop’s remaining music”, he responded: “Who said he had music left?”
“What else ya want?” he continued. “Pop died three years ago: how much music ya think he did in one year? Y’all gotta be real.”
He added that the Brooklyn star wouldn’t be happy to have any music posthumously released: “If Pop was alive he would not [have] approved of 99 per cent of the stuff they put out.”
Pop Smoke’s manager/producer says he has no more music left in the vault. pic.twitter.com/7L11DXRIsA
— Rap Alert (@rapalert6) May 1, 2023
Pop Smoke’s estate released two albums since his 2020 death. His debut album ‘Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon’, which was executively produced by 50 Cent, was released months after his death. In a three-star review, NME said, the record “serves as a testament to the strength, power and knowledge [Pop] Smoke held in his ambition to go to the very top.”
In 2021, his estate followed up with ‘Faith’, which NME called “oversaturated with unnecessary features” and is an “obvious money grab”.
Other affiliates of Pop Smoke’s have hinted at the lack of music left around the release of ‘Faith’. His best friend, Mike Dee, told radio host Kalisha Perera that “instead of dropping all 30 songs, I would have waited until now, till next year, that way his name will stay alive instead of just dropping it all at one time.”
The late New York rapper was shot dead during a home invasion in the Hollywood Hills area. Last month, a man pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of Pop Smoke and has been sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility.