On February 19th, the world was struck with yet another tragedy. New York rapper Pop Smoke was murdered in his own home. Pop Smoke was only 20 and had just released his second album named Meet The Woo 2. Pop Smoke was on the rise as one of the hottest rappers in the game. This tragedy adds to the list of young celebrities being lost too early like Juice Wrld, Kobe Bryant, and Gianna Bryant. The difference in this case with Pop Smoke is that it wasn’t an accident or an overdose, but instead it was a homicide. The question here is if it was a targeted hit or a robbery. 

When the news first came out, the incident was ruled as a robbery but after further investigation it was changed to be a targeted hit. This means that someone was planning on killing him from the beginning. 

Whitney Young students were saddened by the event, and wondered aloud what had happened. Patrick Moran, ‘20, said, “Pop Smoke obviously had some enemies and in this case those enemies got the best of him.” 

“It really is tragic. It’s also sad how people are just starting to recognize his music because of his death,” noted EJ Lopez, ‘19. 

Lukas Hecht, ‘20, added, “2020 isn’t looking so great so far. I hope these terrible deaths end soon.”