50 Cent criticises Pop Smoke's team over posthumous album release
Music mogul served as executive producer on the album, but is apparently unhappy with how it has been handled
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Your support makes all the difference.50 Cent has called out the team of Pop Smoke for what he believes to be the mishandling of the late rapper’s posthumous album.
Shoot For the Stars Aim For the Moon was released last week and is on track to achieve the No 1 spot on the Billboard charts in the US.
In the UK, the record is the highest-charting debut by an international artist for 17 years – an achievement previously held by 50 Cent himself, with Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
50 Cent, who served as executive producer on the project, shared an Instagram post that claimed he was “not feeling the way the guys involved with Pop’s project are handling things”.
“I got it to this point it’s gonna be the #1 album. That’s good enough right, i’m gonna be unavailable moving forward peace,” he wrote, suggesting he does not plan to work on any further posthumous releases from the rapper.
50 Cent had earlier criticised designer Virgil Abloh for his first attempt at the album’s cover art, which also received a backlash from fans.
In a review for The Independent, Pop Smoke was praised for his ability to “project emotion like few other artists his age”, and for the overall quality of the album.
“Brilliant and bittersweet, Shoot For the Stars Aim For the Moon is the work of someone whose success should have been stratospheric,” the review said.
Pop Smoke was shot and killed aged 20 in a home invasion at his rental property in Los Angeles, California on 19 February.
Five people have been arrested in connection with his death.
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