“Shoot for The Stars, Aim for the Moon,” Review

What a debut, and it’s crazy that the album is a Posthumous one. Pop Smoke was on such a promising upraise that was a legendary start to what we all know as a tragic ending. An ending left on a high with “Shoot for The Stars, Aim for the Moon,” which is the best work of his banger hefty discography.

From the jump, you get those NYC drill heavy beats from the produces 808 Melo and Wundagurl. It was only right that the album started with an 808 Melo produced track. 808 Melo has been producing for Pop since the first Meet the Woo mixtape, and if you look at their track record of songs, you know it’s a winning formula.

Lyrically Pop Smoke has always been robust, but surprisingly, his lyrics are not the stand out for the album but more so his ability to provide his vocals on tracks throughout the album and his ear for instrumentation.

Before this album, Pop didn’t do much singing on his tracks, but I think it was about him wanting to expend himself as an artist. As for his ear for instrumentation, this selection of instrumentals by the producers and Pop gives the whole album it’s replay ability factor.

Track to Track you get different types of energy, like take for example “44 bulldog” is a track with straight bars with no hocks with an up-tempo sound, then the next song “Gangstas” lowers the tempo with a more finesse sound with a hook. Most of the album is structured like this, which in many cases could make a record sound sloppy, but 50 Cent as the executive producer made it flow all together seamlessly.

Then the features in here are nothing but the A list of rappers in this current contemporary moment, those being Quavo, Lil Baby, Dababy, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug, Tyga, Gunna, Swae Lee, Jamie Fox, PnB Rock, Davido 50 Cent, and Burna Boy.

Not to be outdone are the other features that I could argue that it’s an all-star cast of the hottest rappers in New York. Roddy Ricch, Lil Tjay, King Combs, Fivio Foreign, Dafi Woo, Dread Woo, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie.

There are many features on this album, but they are spread out very well in the Original album with the deluxe edition comprised of mostly songs with features.

The one surprising feature on the album for me was defiantly “Enjoy Yourself” featuring Karol G. I don’t think any fans were expecting this from Pop Smoke. Still, he digs into his Panamanian bag with this one. He is dipping a little toe into that Latin music market, which sadly well never get to see him expand into and work with more Latin artist.

All of the Producers who contributed to the album collectively brought heat out for each of their tracks. Throughout the whole album, there is not one weak song that feels out of place or soulless.

One producer that stuck out to me besides 808 Melo and Wundagurl was Boston’s owns IamTash with his track “Something Special,” which samples that classic “So Into You by Tamia.” A standout track for me because of the classic instrumental and Pop Smoke in his bag, giving his lady listeners some love matched up perfectly.

Personally, my favorite part of this album was towards the end of it, where there is like an R&B section of songs that start from Mood Swings featuring Lil Tjay and ending with Diana featuring King Combs. This section is just a different vibe compared to the rest of the album, but in a way that brings a nice balance to it and acts as a lob to the album’s last few songs.

Pop Smokes growth as an artist is something that, with this album, he showed off to his listeners. He could have stayed in his lane and went with an NYC drill heavy album, but instead, he displayed how versatile an artist he is. From the production to the different flows he rapped throughout the album, in my own opinion makes it go down as one of the best debut Hip-Hop albums of all time.

Overall, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon will be remembered for displaying all the potential that Pop Smoke had to give the world, and what should have been just the start of something special now leaves fans wanting more.

Originally published at http://scubawrites.wordpress.com on July 10, 2020.