Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon

American record producer Rico Beats introduced rapper Pop Smoke to record executive Steven Victor in April 2019. After signing to Victor's label Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records, Pop Smoke told Victor in addition to rapping, he had experience as a singer, having previously sung for services at a church. To demonstrate his abilities, Pop Smoke played Victor an unreleased song called "Something Special" and a track called "What You Know Bout Love"; the latter made a deep impact on Victor Victor executives, persuading them Pop Smoke was more than "just another drill rapper from Brooklyn". Victor knew that many of rap's most popular musicians had been responsible for pushing new sounds into the mainstream because he worked closely with American rapper Kanye West as the chief operating officer of his record label GOOD Music at the time. The record executive devised a strategy in which Pop Smoke would go on to create a series of mixtapes devoted only to Brooklyn drill, which would be "raw, gritty street rap with bass-heavy production". After Pop Smoke would establish himself as the "leader" of the subgenre that was growing in New York City, he would then release a debut album that showcased his melodic side with bigger, more mainstream songs like "Something Special". On February 19, 2020, less than a year after signing his record deal, Pop Smoke was renting an Airbnb owned by The Real Housewives star Teddi Mellencamp and her husband, Edwin Arroyave, in Hollywood Hills, California. The rapper was killed at the age of 20 during an attempted home invasion. Four hooded men, one of whom was wearing a ski mask and carrying a handgun, broke into the house Pop Smoke was renting. A 15-year-old boy, the youngest of the four intruders, shot Pop Smoke three times in the chest with a Beretta M9 after fighting with him. The robbers stole Pop Smoke's diamond-studded Rolex watch, which they sold for $2,000. Pop Smoke was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed a thoracotomy on the left side of his chest but a few hours later, he was pronounced dead. The day before his murder, Pop Smoke and friend Mike Dee had posted several images on their social media, including one in which Mellencamp's home address can be seen in the background. As executive producer, 50 Cent contacted artists Roddy Ricch, Drake, and Chris Brown, asking them if they wanted to be included on the record. He got up and saw that Pop Smoke was actually writing everything he said down on his phone. He stated he "fell in love" with Pop Smoke and was going to executive produce his album. After production was completed, 50 Cent helped fulfill Pop Smoke's desire to take his mother to an awards show. Pop Smoke had begun to set up the Shoot for the Stars Foundation in January 2020 to help young people achieve their goals despite living and growing up in difficult circumstances, providing access to technology and other resources. After his death, Pop Smoke's family announced they would continue the foundation. ==Recording==

Before being signed to VVW, Pop Smoke had recorded the first songs for Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon in Los Angeles, London, the Bahamas, and Paris. his album was to have been mixed and mastered while he was on tour. The former told the late rapper he wanted him to re-record his songs. ==Music and lyrics==

According to Danny Schwartz of Rolling Stone, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon merges "drill's swooping rhythms" with "austere Atlanta trap that Migos and Zaytoven mastered mid-decade". Slant Magazine Charles Lyons-Burt noted it has "ill-advised forays into R&B found on DaBaby's Blame It on Baby". The staff of Billboard said the album "gestures toward R&B and more soulful sounds". Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon opens with "Bad Bitch from Tokyo", which consists of drumbeats, ad-libbed harmonies, crows cawing, and Pop Smoke rapping about his own death. "Aim for the Moon" featuring Quavo is a drill track that uses braggadocio, hi-hats, and bass. Pop Smoke and Quavo rap about enjoying their successes. trap, and soul song Its lyrics detail night-time occurrences. The fourth track, "44 Bulldog", is a drill track that was named after the Charter Arms Bulldog, a traditional double-action revolver. It consists of enigmatic barks and sung synth tones. Craig Jenkins of Vulture stated the drill tracks "Yea Yea" and "Creature" featuring Swae Lee are about a "tough-guy rapper pivot[ing] flawlessly into romance on the horizon". "Snitching" featuring Quavo and Future is a trap song on which Pop Smoke raps about the threats he faced every day "Make it Rain" which features Rowdy Rebel, an American rapper who at the time was incarcerated, had to record his verse by telephone. On the eleventh track "West Coast Shit" featuring Quavo and Tyga, Pop Smoke and Tyga rap about the wonders of the west coast of the US. "Enjoy Yourself", a Latin trap song that features Colombian singer Karol G, contains a sample of "Drink Freely" by Moroccan-American rapper French Montana. An R&B track, which features King Combs and contains excerpts from Playa's 1998 single "Cheers 2 U". In the lyrics, Pop Smoke pleads for mercy from his enemies. The album closes with the bonus track "Dior", a drill and hip-hop song with lyrics about flirting with women and buying the latest designer clothes. ==Title and artwork==

for Pop Smoke's debut album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon.|American designer Virgil Abloh's original album cover received significant criticism for its design and prompted fans to want it to be changed. Xiarra-Diamond Nimrod, the manager of marketing strategy for Republic Records, said Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon is a phrase Pop Smoke often used during interviews, urging his fans to abide by it. He used it for the name of his foundation and mentioned it in his songs, including "Invincible" and "Aim for the Moon". Nimrod thought it was important his message was heard and felt on his album. provoked significant criticism from fans, who called it "lazy" and "rushed", and said it was disrespectful. An online petition attracted tens of thousands of signatures. Abloh used a picture of Pop Smoke that was the first result of a Google Images search. A few hours later, the label announced it would replace Abloh's artwork in time for the album's release date. 50 Cent also criticized Abloh's artwork and posted over 35 fan-made designs, saying "they ain't going for this bullshit". After Abloh said he based his cover design on a conversation he had with Pop Smoke, American conceptual artist Ryder Ripps accused Abloh of stealing Ripps' "chrome rose" concept and "[ruining] it with a careless design", adding it was "so sad that someone would care this little about art, design and the memory of a human who was so loved to wrap his name up in lies and theft". Ripps created the album's final cover art, depicting a chrome rose against a black background. Hours before the album's commercial release, Pop Smoke's mother chose the final album cover. According to Ripps: ==Release and promotion==

Pop Smoke had wanted the album to be released in the northern hemisphere summer, close to his birthday on July 20. Before his murder, the album was to have been released on June 12, Memorial Day, an American federal holiday, but the lead single "Make It Rain" was released on that date instead, and Victor announced they had postponed the album's release to July 3, 2020, out of respect for the George Floyd protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records released Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon worldwide on July 3, 2020. The deluxe edition of the album was released on July 20, 2020, on what would have been Pop Smoke's 21st birthday and features fifteen additional tracks, including remixes of three songs from the original album. The first single from the album, "Make it Rain", peaked at number 49 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 73 on the UK Singles Chart. "Enjoy Yourself" was released as a promotional single on July 2, 2020; it peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100. and accompanying music video, which Eif Rivera directed, was released on July 20, 2020; it features archival footage of Pop Smoke edited on vintage television screens, and shows 50 Cent and Ricch surrounded by expensive cars and bikini-clad women. The album's third single "Mood Swings" was released on August 21, 2020. A visualizer for the track featuring Jordyn Woods, and Dylan and Dakota Gonzalez, was released on August 20, 2020. A music video for the song was directed by David wept and was released on October 7, 2020. It shows Lil Tjay and Lala Baptiste in an on-and-off relationship, and pictures of Pop Smoke in an eternal blue flame. A remix featuring the voice of American singer Summer Walker was released as a single on September 18, 2020. "Mood Swings" reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 it peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Pop Smoke his first top-10 hit in the United States. The album's fifth single "What You Know Bout Love" was released on October 9, 2020. Oliver Cannon directed its music video, which was released on December 22, 2020. The video features never-before-seen clips of Pop Smoke and his fans performing the song's dance challenge on TikTok. it peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100. A music video for "Aim for the Moon" was directed by Oliver Cannon and was released on October 26, 2020. The visual pays tribute to the music video for the Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 single "Sky's the Limit", while it features Bouba Savage playing Pop Smoke and an unnamed child playing Quavo as young versions of the rappers doing several activities. The remix of "Diana" received a music video which was released on October 14, 2020, and directed by Brilliant Garcia. The video is interspersed and features clips of dimly lit neon setups of Pop Smoke recording in the studio, and celebrating and dancing with his team, ==Critical reception==

Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 70 based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.4 out of 10 based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Dhruva Balram of NME wrote the album has many strengths, including its production, featured guests' verses, and Pop Smoke's lyrics. He said the album stands out because it "serves as a testament to the strength, power and knowledge [Pop] Smoke held in his ambition to go to the very top". For The Independent, Roisin O'Connor said the album is "not only a celebration, but an elegy for what else [Pop Smoke] could have achieved", and that it is the work of "someone whose success should have been stratospheric". Reviewing Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon for Entertainment Weekly, Gary Suarez stated even if the album is not what Pop Smoke had created, he sounds alive on it, calling him a "motivated and vibrant hip-hop talent actively pushing towards that next level". Mike Milenko from Clash wrote Pop Smoke would have taken the album in a different direction with "less digitisation of the vocals", and that the use of autotune on almost every song "can become overpowering at times, but it all depends on your taste". David Aaron Brake from HipHopDX stated Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon offers a "fleeting peek" into the career Pop Smoke would have had, saying it would "become—beyond Drill, beyond Brooklyn, beyond even the United States". Alphonse Pierre of Pitchfork wrote the album "attempts to cement his legacy by expanding his world", praising it for being "big, polished, versatile, feature-packed, and loaded with radio and playlist-friendly records". Jade Gomez of Paste said the album "seeks to provide closure for [Brooklyn] while also showing the heartbreaking reality of what could've been", and that it would have been just as "satisfying with a condensed tracklist and more carefully curated features". Vultures Craig Jenkins commented the album is "evidence of a star gaining his bearings, but as much as it is a product of a young and growing artist's path toward refinement, it is also a document of his jarring absence". In a mixed review, AllMusic's David Crone stated although the first two volumes of Meet the Woo lack the flatulent of Pop Smoke's iconic singles, they show quality as the representation of drill; he also said the album, in comparison, ruins the rapper's "visionary style with predatory glitz as everyone jumps for a piece of the pie". Slant Magazines Charles Lyons-Burt said Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon has the feel of a B-sides collection mashed together as a quick cash-in on his death, and that it attempts to expand Pop Smoke's sound and ambitions. He concluded by saying the album lost sight of the "local specificity, quirky charisma, and energy that made a name for Pop Smoke in the first place". Year-end lists ==Industry awards==

Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon won Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Rap Album at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. "What You Know Bout Love" was further nominated for Hip-Hop Song of the Year at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards. "For the Night" was nominated for Best Collaboration at the 2021 BET Awards. Canadian producer WondaGurl won Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award for her production work on "Aim for the Moon" at the 2021 Juno Awards. ==Commercial performance==

Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 251,000 album-equivalent units, giving Pop Smoke his first number one album in the US. The album also accumulated 268.44 million on-demand streams of its tracks in the week ending July 18. Pop Smoke became the first hip-hop act to debut posthumously at number one on the Billboard 200 with his debut studio album. All of the album's 19 tracks charted on the Billboard Hot 100 following its first week of release, making Pop Smoke have the most simultaneous entries on the Hot 100 posthumously. The album returned to number one on the Billboard 200 in October 2020 after a three-month break. It was the second album in 2020 after Lil Baby's My Turn to have a lengthy hiatus between weeks at number one. The album charted in the top five on the Billboard 200 for a total of 34 weeks, becoming only the fourth album in the 21st century to spend so many weeks in top five. Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon also topped the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and remained at number one for 19 non-consecutive weeks. The album has spent the longest time at number one since MC Hammer's ''Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em in 1990. In March 2021, the album became the longest-running number-one record on the Billboard'' Top Rap Albums chart with 20 non-consecutive weeks, replacing American rapper Eminem's record after his seventh studio album Recovery spent 19 weeks at number one in 2010 and 2011. Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, which was the highest-charting international debut rap album since 50 Cent's ''Get Rich or Die Tryin''' in 2003. 12 weeks after its debut, the album rose to number one, becoming the first debut album to reach the top spot in 2020, and gave the late rapper his first number one album in the United Kingdom. Pop Smoke became the first solo artist to have a posthumous debut album reach number one. In Ireland, the album debuted at number one, giving Pop Smoke his first number one album in the country. It became the first debut album by an American rapper to top the Official Irish Charts in the 21st century. Elsewhere, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart. The album became the first posthumous record to top the ARIA Albums chart in more than two years since Australian musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu's fourth studio album Djarimirri in April 2018. Pop Smoke became the 158th American artist to have an album top the charts in Australia. Three tracks of Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon debuted within the top-50 of the ARIA Singles chart. The album reached number one on the album charts of Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland. ==Track listing==

Notes • signifies a co-producer • signifies an additional producer • signifies a vocal producer • signifies an uncredited co-producer • "Paranoia" featuring Gunna and Young Thug was originally on the track list of the original album with an extra feature from Pusha T. However, it was included on the deluxe edition, without Pusha's verse. Sample credits • "The Woo" contains uncredited interpolations from "Candy Shop", written by Curtis Jackson III and Scott Storch, as performed by 50 Cent. • "Enjoy Yourself" contains interpolations from "Drink Freely", written by Richard Butler, Jr., Karim Kharbouch, and Pierre Meador, as performed by French Montana. • "Something Special" contains samples from "Into You", written by Lionel Richie, Ronald LaPread, Tim Kelley, Tamia Washington, Ernesto Shaw, and John Jackson, as performed by Fabolous. • "What You Know Bout Love" contains samples from "Differences", written by Elgin Lumpkin and Troy Oliver, as performed by Ginuwine. • "Diana" contains excerpts from "Cheers 2 U", written by Stephen Garrett and Timothy Mosley, as performed by Playa. • "Got It on Me" contains interpolations from "Many Men (Wish Death)", written by Curtis Jackson III, Darrell Branch, and Luis Resto, as performed by 50 Cent. • "Hotel Lobby" contains resung elements from "If I Can't", written by Curtis Jackson III, Andre Young, Mike Elizondo, and Theron Feemster, as performed by 50 Cent. • "Imperfections" contains interpolations from "Let Me Love You", written by Shaffer Smith, Kameron Houff, and Scott Storch, as performed by Mario. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. Vocals • Pop Smoke – rap vocals • Quavo – rap vocals (2, 8, 11) • Lil Baby – rap vocals (3) • DaBaby – rap vocals (3) • Swae Lee – rap vocals (7) • Future – rap vocals (8) • Rowdy Rebel – rap vocals (9) • 50 Cent – rap vocals (10) • Roddy Ricch – rap vocals (10) • Tyga – rap vocals (11) • Karol G – vocals (12) • Lil Tjay – rap vocals (13) • King Combs – rap vocals (16, 33) • Calboy – background vocals (16), rap vocals (33) • Dread – background vocals (18) • Fivio Foreign – rap vocals (21, 22) • Lauren "Laya" Ayala – background vocals (22) • Dafi Woo – rap vocals (23) • Dread Woo – rap vocals (24) • Davido – vocals (25) • PnB Rock – rap vocals (26) • Jamie Foxx – vocals (28) • Gunna – rap vocals (29) • Young Thug – rap vocals (29) • A Boogie wit da Hoodie – rap vocals (30) • Queen Naija – vocals (32) • Burna Boy – rap vocals (34) Additional personnel • Jess Jackson – mastering engineer (all tracks), mixer (1–7, 9–18, 20–34), engineer (13), programming (20) • Leslie Brathwaite – mixer, engineer (8) • Rob Kinelski – mixer, vocal engineer (12, 34) • Ken "Duro" Ifill – mixer, programming (14) • Jaycen Joshua – mixer (19) • Corey "Cutz" Nutile – engineer (1–9, 12–16, 18, 20–34) • Barrington Hall – engineer (2) • Nate Alford – engineer (2, 30) • Princeston "Perfect Harmany" Terry – engineer (3) • Stephen "DotCom" Farrow – engineer (3) • Jason Goldberg – engineer (10) • Ky Miller – engineer (10, 17) • Sage Skofield – engineer (13) • Dom Martin – engineer (15, 17) • Shawn "Source" Jarrett – engineer (16, 33) • Yung Ave – engineer (17, 19) • Vic Wainstein – engineer (19) • Bart Schoudel – engineer (26) • Dante Dow – engineer (28) • Robert Ulsh – engineer (29) • Alex Estevez – engineer (30) • Thomas "Tillie" Mann – vocal mixer (3) • Derek "MixedByAli" Ali – vocal mixer (10) • Randy Lanphear – vocal engineer (7) • A. "Bainz" Bains – vocal engineer (29) • Florian "Flo" Ongonga – vocal engineer (29) • TheElements – vocal engineer (29) • Rose Adams – assistant mixer (1–7, 9–18, 20–34) • Sage Skofield – assistant mixer (1–7, 9–18, 20–34) • Sean Solymar – assistant mixer (1–7, 9–18, 20–34) • DJ Riggins – assistant mixer (19) • Jacob Richards – assistant mixer (19) • Mike Seaberg – assistant mixer (19) • Todd Cooper – additional mixer (14) • Pierre Rogue – assistant recording engineer (15, 17) • Andre Loblack – programming (1, 2, 7, 10, 19–21, 25, 29, 30) • Daniel Deleyto – programming (2) • Dylan Cleary Krell – programming (2) • Ebony Oshunrinde – programming (2, 28) • Sadiki Forbes – programming (2) • Tyrone Penman – programming (2) • Alex Petit – programming (3, 5, 24, 30) • Christoffer Buchardt Marcussen – programming (3, 12, 34) • Daniel Moras Raab – programming (3) • David Gbeminiyi – programming (4) • Fabian Mora – programming (4) • Ellis Newton – programming (5) • Hakz Beats – programming (6, 32) • SephGotTheWaves – programming (6, 32) • Seth Jones – programming (8) • Tyron Douglas – programming (8) • Alyamani Ouadah – programming (9) • Dijon McFarlane – programming (11) • Uforo Ebong – programming (11) • Lucas Grob – programming (12, 34) • Deandre Sumpter – programming (13) • Omar Gomez – programming (13) • Tashim Zene – programming (15) • Anthony Blagmon – programming (16, 33) • Dmytro Luchko – programming (17) • Carson Hackney – programming (18) • Jugraj Nagra – programming (18) • Manalla Yusuf – programming (22) • Szymon Swiatczak – programming (22) • BigBroLGND – programming (23) • Rico Beats – programming (23, 30) • Kiowa Roukema – programming (24) • Rob Harris – guitar (25) • Hal Ritson – keyboards, programming (25) • Michele Balduzzi – keyboards, programming (25) • Richard Adlam – keyboards, programming (25) • Graeme Blevins – melodica (25) • BloodPop – programming (26) • Damil Coste – programming (27) • Joseph Zoumboulias – programming (27) • RD Whittington – programming (28) • Keren Wolfsohn – programming (29) • Paul Bogumi Goller – programming (29) • Jason Avalos – programming (30) • Gerail Harvey – programming (31) ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==