Pop Smoke was the connection between New York and LA - "he was laying the foundation for an organically borderless rap sound"

Pop Smoke was such a sensation to witness because, while hip-hop continues to expand, he fed off that cultural diffusion while remaining quintessentially New York. His Caribbean flair, Brooklyn bravado, and trademark tone swiftly became the new voice of the city. He was a familiar, yet fresh archetype of what New York feels, looks, and sounds like. When we listen to Pop Smoke, we hear DMX, we hear 50 Cent, we hear Shyne - the Fader says in an obituary to Pop Smoke, NY-to-LA rapper killed last week in his Hollywood Hills home.