Pop Smoke’s untimely death took many by surprise, but the rapper was reportedly in danger long before he died. During a recent episode of Taraji P. Henson’s Facebook Watch series, “Peace of Mind With Taraji,” Pop’s brother opened up about the Brooklyn emcee’s demise.
According to Obasi Jackson, he learned the news of his brother’s passing from a friend. “One of my homegirls from school, she came and knocked on my door. I open the door and she’s like, ‘Yo bro, I’m sorry to tell you this. I would hate to be the one to tell you this, but your brother passed away,’” he said. “And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I go in my bathroom. I’m on the floor, just like, ‘Ma is this true?’ ‘We don’t know yet.’ Everything is in a confused state. She called me back like, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’”
Jackson admitted that the “Dior” star was receiving death threats from unknown sources before he died and should have been accompanied by some security for safety reasons. “There was a lot of threats on his life…And people were trying to figure out where the threats were coming from,” he said. “I didn’t think that anybody would do that, and it’s just a lot that goes into it.”
“It’s mind-boggling to me that someone would let a superstar go out with no security. That still plays on my mind. That just don’t make no sense,” he continued. “So, I don’t wanna point fingers, that’s not who I am as a person, but the truth is what the truth is and that’s something that bothers me.”
Jackson’s claims that Pop Smoke was targeted supports past reports that death threats prompted the rapper to cancel his gig at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn days before his murder. Unfortunately, the Canarsie native was later shot and killed during a home invasion.
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Posted by Taraji P. Henson on Wednesday, December 23, 2020