Alde Nguyen
Circulation Editor
Pop Smoke shakes the room with the release of his sophomore album “Meet The Woo 2,” erupting an entrance for Brooklyn’s rising drill scene.
Pop Smoke’s latest album “Meet The Woo 2,” proves to be ‘that’ album that sparks an artist’s career into the mainstream limelight. “Meet The Woo 2” musically satisfies on several levels despite Pop Smoke’s unusual sound, demonstrating an anomaly of what is to be considered a ‘quality modern rap album.’
Bashar Barakah Jackson, professionally known as Pop Smoke, is an up-and-coming rap artist from New York. Pop Smoke began to catch underground attention with the release of his single, “Welcome To The Party” and feature on Travis Scott’s “GATTI.” Pop Smoke has since become the face of Brooklyn’s prospering drill scene with distinct, gravelly vocals and chaotic beats. Drill music is a style of rap featuring trap-influenced beats and violent lyrical content.
“Meet The Woo 2” is Pop Smoke’s sophomore studio-recorded album released by Republic Records. The album has 13 tracks with features from multiple notable artists such as Quavo, Fivio Foreign, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and Lil Tjay.
Pop Smoke’s unique vocals are what strike the attention of listeners first. His deep-pitched, aggressive voice embeds into each of his tracks to perfection, creating a raw drill energy in his music. First time listeners, however, may find themselves disliking Pop Smoke’s music but his distinct sound is quick to grow onto them.
Pop Smoke’s slow but climatic beats on “Meet The Woo 2” proves to be another feature that separates itself from typical rap. Pop Smoke’s beats incorporate heavy bass, odd electronic sounds, and minimalistic tempos to craft masterpieces of UK-inspired drill beats.
Pop Smoke’s delivery of lyrics is another one of “Meet The Woo 2”’s many highlights. Pop Smoke raps his words to perfect timing making his lyrics very memorable and catchy; another aspect that presents his mainstream potential. Pop Smoke’s lyrics speak on his real life, rise to success, and hustler mentality.
All of the collaborations on “Meet The Woo 2” accomplish their task, complementing Pop Smoke’s sound and incorporating musical diversity to the album. Lil Tjay’s feature on the track “Mannequin” is the ideal collab with a melodic NY sound that adds to the hostility of the track.
The unarguably best tracks on “Meet The Woo 2” are “Shake The Room” featuring Quavo, “Sweetheart” featuring Fivio Foreign, “Invincible,” and “Element.” Pop Smoke resembles 50 Cent on “Element” flavoring a New York touch to the track and pleases on “Sweetheart” with soft autotune on his heavy vocals.
Pop Smoke breaks the barrier between drill music and the music industry with the release of his second album “Meet The Woo 2.” Pop Smoke’s influence on the drill scene can already be heard with artists such as Drake and Jay Critch joining the trend.
“Meet The Woo 2” was released on Feb 7. and is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon. The album can also be streamed on platforms such as Apple Music, Youtube Music, and Spotify.
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