Pop Smoke knows how to take advantage of an opportunity. The Brooklyn-bred rapper, who would pull up to studio sessions for homies like Jay Gwuapo, kicked off his rap career by accident after he started sneaking into recording booths to lay down vocals of his own. Showing that he wasn’t one to play around, the 20-year-old soon began taking his craft seriously and followed through by dropping his own singles. Joints like “MPR” and his breakout record, “Welcome to the Party,” started to pull in millions of views and listens across his YouTube, SoundCloud and Spotify accounts, and garnered him support from the likes of Pusha-T and Rich The Kid.

Now signed to Victor Victor/Republic Records, Pop Smoke is ready to boss up, with plans of furthering his music career and opening up businesses throughout his borough. His buzz is growing quickly—he's landed a Nicki Minaj feature on the remix to "Welcome to the Party," and Rico Nasty dropped her own "NastyMix" of the track today. After building hype with his raw aesthetics and his independent grind, Pop Smoke is intent on shaking up the streets.

Pop Smoke fed his eager fans with his latest drop, Meet The Woo, which he dropped on Friday. The mixtape serves as his first full-length project. Pop’s debut puts on full display the emerging rapper's hard-hitting, aggressive New York vibe that has drawn comparisons to the likes of DMX and 50 Cent.

Get to know more about Pop Smoke in the latest edition of XXL’s The Break.

Age: 20

Hometown: Brooklyn

I grew up listening to: “50 Cent.”

My style’s been compared to: “DMX, 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks. It's fire actually, because I used to bump these niggas O-D. You feel me? It's crazy.”

My standout records are: “'Welcome to the Party' and 'Meet the Woo.' If you want to be honest, females are my No. 1 supporters. And kids. Kids want to party. Females like 'Meet the Woo' and the kids want 'Welcome to the Party.'”

My most slept-on songs are: “'Flexing.' I went dumb. I was talking mad shit. I think niggas know, but they don't want to tell me. 'Flexing' is crazy.”

My standout moments to date have been: “Pusha-T brought me out in Coney Island. Performing at Amazura [in Queens] is a close second. Amazura was a light show. I walked on the stage. I could have cried. I could have cried son. It was like 50 in 2003.”

Most people don’t know: “I'm a gentleman. People think I'm just all gangster. I'm a double G homie: a gangsta and a gentleman. I've got sisters, you feel me. My sisters is like so sweet, calm and cool. You've got to be mindful that they’re females. They put me on like, ‘No Pop, you have to talk nice.’ So instead of saying, 'What's up! What's good?!' I say, 'What's the matter? What's going on? Are you okay?'”

I’m going to blow up because: “I've got the fucking recipe. If you know what it is, you’re going to do it. You know what I'm saying? We've got the cheat codes. We know how to win.”

I’m going to be the next: “Best rapper. The hottest in the world. Niggas can't fuck with me. You understand? They can't fuck with me. The way I talk, the way I walk, the way I look is different from niggas. You understand? I talk better than niggas, I look better than niggas, I smell better than niggas. These niggas can't fuck with what we got. They can't fuck with nothing we got going on in here.”

Follow Pop Smoke on Instagram and SoundCloud.

Standouts:
“Welcome To The Party”

“Meet The Woo”

“MPR”

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