Tyga and Pop Smoke created a handful of songs together before the latter’s passing, but there would have been one more if it weren’t for the reservations of another artist.
In an interview for Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson released on January 12, Tyga opened up about working with the late rapper and what got in the way of one of their collaborations.
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“We had did two records before he passed and then one of them – it was a conflict on it so I was like, ‘It’s cool, take me off of it. I ain’t tripping.’ Somebody else didn’t want me on the song right … another artist,” Tyga said. “So I was like, ‘It’s cool. I ain’t tripping. Whatever, let’s just do something else.’ And he was cool like that.”
He continued: “And we did another song and then we finished it, but we didn’t finish the final song because he had passed right before the album came out. But he had text me, like, ‘Yo I wanna put a Latin artist on, a female artist. Who do you think?’ And I was like that we should put Karol G on it, because at the time I was like, ‘Karol G’s poppin. Let’s put her on it!’ So we end up putting her on it for that album.”
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The song Tyga was referring to is “Enjoy Yourself” off Pop’s posthumous debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon.
“And then I did another song with him and Quavo that they did that I hopped on later,” he added, referring to “West Coast Shit” off the same album. “And then the record ‘Sunshine’ was a song that he did. My boy used to do all his A&R stuff, so he did a record for him and then he had the verse and we just put him on there and it just made sense.”
Tyga went on to compare Pop Smoke to 50 Cent, explaining how he saw a similar trajectory for Pop before he was tragically killed.
“He was outta here, bro. He was different, bro,” Tyga said. “He was a star – his whole vibe. He definitely woulda changed rap as far as like, what it feels now. It’s almost like when 50 came out and was super gangsta but then he started doing melodies, he started doing those records and those records became bigger. I feel like Pop Smoke too – his melodic records is bigger than his street songs.”
Four men have since been charged in Pop Smoke’s February 2020 murder, including the alleged killer who was just 15 years old at the time. Police claim their motive was to steal Pop Smoke’s diamond-encrusted Rolex and Cuban link chain, but they only managed to swipe his watch and later sold it for just $2,000.
One of the suspects, 21-year-old Corey Walker, confessed to a cellmate that the crew only found out about Pop’s location through his social media.
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Prior to the shooting, Pop Smoke had posted an Instagram Story of designer bags showing the address of his Los Angeles-based Airbnb on the packaging.
