50 Cent Is Unofficial Hero For Pop Smoke’s Album Cover Makeover, Wants Fans to Vote on Design
By now, many know about the botched cover for Pop Smoke’s debut album. With only days left until the highly-anticipated project drops, the rapper’s fans are pissed about the Virgil Abloh-designed cover.
A makeover is in the works, and 50 Cent is one of the people on the case. Behind the scenes, he’s trying to ensure that Pop Smoke‘s rollout is done right.
The Pop Smoke album is a big deal
Months after the 20-year-old Bashar Jackson — a.k.a. Pop Smoke — was killed during a home invasion, his family, team, and fellow rappers came together to finish the work he started.
Pop Smoke made a name for himself with 2019’s “Welcome to the Party” and Meet the Woo mixtape. Known for giving drill music a different flavor, he generated buzz early in his career.
Several weeks before his death on February 19, Pop Smoke dropped the follow-up mixtape, Meet the Woo 2.
Representing Brooklyn, he was poised to become the next big star out of New York and worked alongside artists such as Quavo, Travis Scott, Fivio Foreign, and Lil Tjay. 50 Cent took a liking to him and became somewhat of mentor figure.
Pop Smoke’s popularity hasn’t faded and fans are looking forward to the posthumous Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon album on July 3.
Fans were pissed at Virgil Abloh over Pop Smoke’s cover art
Social media was on fire on June 29 when Abloh tweeted his design for the cover (seen above). It’s since been deleted, but nary one positive comment was found.
Fans ripped Abloh over what they considered to be a “lazy” and “disrespectful” attempt to create the album’s artwork for such an important project. Many called it the worst cover they’ve ever seen.
50 Cent was bombarded with comments from fans demanding a do-over, and he too told Abloh the job was unacceptable. He wrote on Instagram: “Hey Virgil we need new album art, they ain’t going for this bullsh*t. Love ya work let’s get to it. 🤔Steven i told you this shit was 😡eww let get it right!”
In response to the backlash, Pop Smoke’s manager, Steven Victor, announced that the cover will be changed.
50 Cent is polling fans for cover art opinions
50 Cent is hitting the Instagram streets asking fans to weigh on new cover art. Graphic designers submitted their work and now 50 Cent’s feed is filled with more than 30 unique designs with him asking people to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10.
Some feature smoke in the design while others include stars and the moon as a nod to the album’s title. The one pictured here has the most likes so far.
In one post, 50 Cent said he “can’t believe” he had to do this, but fans are responding in droves and appreciate his efforts. Many are ready for a cover to be chosen so everyone can move on to the album’s release.
Pop Smoke’s fan base hopes the album won’t be delayed again. Keep an eye on 50 Cent’s Instagram account to vote for the hottest cover design or for the latest on this debut.
