Pop Smoke was a huge fan of Virgil Abloh.
The late rapper worked with the Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director on his album cover and the music video for ‘Shake the Room’ and Smoke’s manager Steven Victor revealed he admired how far Virgil has progressed in his career.
He told WWD: “The artwork was such a sensitive subject. Pop had real respect and appreciation for Virgil for a number of reasons but, most importantly, he represents what Pop believed – that anything is possible. Virgil is the first art-director of African descent for Louis Vuitton – it’s incredible. In everything he did, Pop’s message was, and still is, that anything is possible and he wants kids all over the world to really believe that and to believe in themselves.”
Smoke, 20 – whose real name was Bashar Jackson – was murdered in Los Angeles in February and Victor revealed he had ambitions to create his own designs before he died.
He said: “I thought it was ambitious. I would take it in stride super early on and thought let’s focus on the music first and once you’re stable as an artist then let’s dabble. He would always talk about fashion. I thought he was just saying it because it was cool for rappers to say. Then over the months, I saw he did have his own sense of style.”
Victor also explained that he is protective of Pop Smoke’s legacy.
He said: “There’s more dope stuff to put out, but we also want to be conscious of his legacy and that he’s not here. We have to do a lot to keep his legacy going. If he was here we would be selective so it’s a balance of that. Behave like he’s here and factor that in and be mindful of it.”
