On February 19, 2020, Bashar Barakah Jackson, better known as Pop Smoke, was renting a house through Airbnb owned by The Real Housewives star Teddi Mellencamp and her husband, Edwin Arroyave, in Hollywood Hills, California.

[4][5] At around 4:30 a.m., five hooded men, including one wearing a ski mask and carrying a handgun, broke into the house through a second-story balcony.

[11] He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed a thoracotomy on the left side of his chest.

On February 21, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner revealed that the cause of Jackson's death was a gunshot wound to the chest.

[9] In May 2021, a 15-year-old, the youngest of the four intruders, allegedly admitted to killing Jackson over a diamond-studded Rolex during a recorded interview with a cellmate at a juvenile detention center.

[16][17] The day before his murder, Jackson and friend Michael Durodola[18] posted several images on social media, including one in which Mellencamp's home address can be seen in the background.

[26]Danny Schwartz wrote in The Ringer that "Pop Smoke conquered New York rap and gave the city the kind of readymade and potentially defining star it hadn't seen in years".