Vybz Kartel Says Pop Smoke And Polo G Are His Favorite Rappers Right Now

Of all the fresh new talents to emerge on the Hip Hop scene over the last few years, Dancehall artist Vybz Kartel has named Brooklyn drill rapper Pop Smoke (may he rest in peace) and Chicago-born rapper Polo G as his ultimate favorites among new artists right now.

The reveal came yesterday as an extension to what became the widely watched interview Kartel had with Lisa Evers of Fox5 New York last month.

From the dark, hot, and dungeon-like confinement of his jail cell, the reputed King Of Dancehall, who has been in prison since 2011, spoke with Evers in an effort to set the record straight on his murder conviction. Having spent almost 10 years behind bars now, the Conjugal Visit deejay is still maintaining his innocence after he was convicted of the murder of his friend Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. According to Kartel, his clear conscience explains how he has kept sane through all those years in prison. He also keeps himself busy with reading, watching movies, and tuning in with the latest trends and talents in the music sphere.

Evers asked Kartel which new Hip Hop artist he respected now and that’s when he revealed the chosen two. “In the Hip Hop, I love Polo G,” he said. Then for his second, he added, “Pop Smoke was the man. He was on his way to being a true legend.”

“So those are my two favorite rappers in America right now,” he concluded.

Evers would follow-up Kartel’s approbation with Hip Hop entertainment journalist, Chuck Creekmur, the co-founder and CEO of AllHipHop.com, who agreed with the Worl’ Boss that Polo G is among the most talented young rappers right now.

“Polo G is one of those young artist that’s got a lot of talent but he’s also true to some of the roots of Hip Hop, some of the principle rules of that we carry from each generation,” Creekmur said.

Adding, “So for Vybz Kartel to be interested in him says a few things, 1. That he’s got his ear to the street, [2.] he’s very tuned in to what’s going on and not only that, [3.] he has an ear for talent.”

Polo G, whose real name is Taurus Tremani Bartlett, 22, rose to prominence in 2018 when dropped his hit track, Finer Things and Pop Out which featured Lil Tjay. Since then, he has managed to maintain a successful musical career, achieving several huge accolades and now a revered standout act. His debut album Die A Legend in 2019 received generally positive reviews and peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA.

Bartlett’s second studio album, The Goat came the following year in 2020 and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and also charted ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Then in 2021, he released the single Rapstar, which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100, to become his first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 and first solo top-ten single. The song served as the lead single for his third studio album, Hall of Fame in 2021, which became Polo G’s first chart-topping album.

As for Pop Smoke, the Hip Hop community would agree with Vybz Kartel that he was an icon in the making during his short-lived run in the industry. The Brooklyn drill rapper was reportedly shot and killed in Los Angeles in February 2020, leaving his peers to speculate that his life was lost over others’ jealousy.

In just under two years, Pop Smoke, real name Bashar Barakah Jackson who was 20 at the time of his death, rose to fame with the release of his breakout singles Welcome to the Party and Dior in 2019. He quickly followed up with his debut mixtape Meet the Woo in July 2019 and a second Meet the Woo 2 in February 2020. The project debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, becoming the rapper’s first top-10 project in the United States. Less than two weeks after the release of the mixtape, Pop Smoke was murdered during a home invasion in Los Angeles.

His posthumous debut studio album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and all 19 tracks from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

At the time, Smoke had already captured the attention of many elites in the rap game such as 50 Cent, Snoop Dog, Nas, Nicki Minaj, The Game, Fabolous, and several others, who all poured their condolences on social media at the news of his passing.

Pop Smoke’s death impacted Kartel and other entertainers in the Dancehall fraternity as several of them took to social media to express their shock at the loss of the Invincible rapper.

Watch the full interview with Kartel and Lisa Evers on Fox5 New York here: