By: Brie Bristol & Elienishka Ramos Torres
On Feb. 19, rap fans worldwide were left in shock upon hearing the unexpected death of 20-year-old NYC rapper Pop Smoke.
According to TMZ, an early morning emergency call was placed to Smoke’s Los Angeles rental home. Two gunmen broke into the house around 4:30 A.M PST firing multiple shots.
The rapper was pronounced dead after arriving at a hospital in West Hollywood.
According to local Hollywood police, the two suspects have not been identified, as they fled quickly from the home.
Smoke was at the start of his rap career, influencing rap fans quickly with his diverting rhymes from his latest album Meet the Woo 2, featuring trending songs such as “Dior” and “Welcome to the Party.”
“Welcome to the Party,” is known as New York City’s party anthem, according to Samanta Quiles, a Smith College student who was raised on Smoke’s music in Brooklyn.
This tragic news quickly jumped across the coast to affect several college student’s early in the afternoon.
According to UMass Amherst junior, Aliaya Robinson, the news was, “quite sad, however, hearing that he was killed was mostly hard because of how young he is regardless of him being a rapper.”
“The black rap community is going to lose a very influential and amazing artist that made everyone feel good and feel free to party. His soul will never be forgotten,” she added.
Rap music can be viewed as the glue that always brings the black community together. Deaths such as these often affect the community in dramatic ways, however, it is possible that this death will wash over rather quickly. Other deaths that have recently affected the black community include the death of retired basketball star Kobe Bryant and rapper Juice Wrld.
(Source: @judeblay on Twitter)
Several students feel as though the death of an upcoming rapper will not change a lot about the culture around the rap community.
Randy Beltre, a junior at UMass Amherst, believes that, “his death is not going to affect the rap community in the sense that people are going to change the way they move or talk or what they say and post on social media…maybe some people will.”
With the fast moving pace of social media, it is easy for news about local music stars to be pushed at the bottom of the public’s agenda.
“Social media is constantly moving, and people’s attention spans have gotten so small, there’s always a new subject to be talked about and it could push what could be a wake up call to the back burner,” says Isabelle Marseille, a UMass Amherst senior.
For now, it is possible that the storm of news on Twitter, can last for the next 24 hours. However, based on the pace of social media it is uncertain how long people’s mourning will last.
( Featured photo source: Complex)
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