Man pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter of Pop Smoke

A 20-year-old man has pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of the late rapper Pop Smoke.

The man, whose name was withheld because he was a 17-year-old minor at the time of the rapper’s death, also pleaded guilty in Inglewood juvenile court to home invasion robbery yesterday (April 6), reports the Associated Press.

He was sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the defendant was not given credit for the time he had already served at a juvenile detention centre since his arrest following Pop Smoke’s murder.

Three more men – Corey Walker, Keandre Rodgers, and one man, whose name is being withheld because he was 15-years-old at the time of the shooting – still face charges of murder over the rapper, who was killed in his rented Hollywood Hills during a home-invasion robbery in February 2020. He was 20 years old.

The group allegedly invaded the rapper’s Airbnb rental in Los Angeles with the aim of stealing his diamond-studded Rolex watch and Cuban link chain. They ended up stealing the watch, which they are alleged to have resold for $2,000 (£1,405).

Since Pop Smoke’s death, two posthumous albums ‘Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon’ and ‘Faith’ have been released.

In a review of the latter at the time, NME said: “The 15-track record is oversaturated with unnecessary features, hindering the raw talent still left in these small leftover snippets from the Canarsie star.

“Weighed down by star power, which eclipses Pop Smoke, ‘Faith’ feels more disingenuous than its predecessor [‘Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon’].”