Pop Smoke Makes Posthumous Acting Debut in ‘Boogie’

Long live the Woo.

Before his tragic death in February 2019, Pop Smoke filmed what would become his posthumous acting debut in Boogie, the directorial debut of Eddie Huang (“Fresh Off the Boat”).

In the coming-of-age story, Taylor Takahashi stars as Alfred “Boogie” Chin, a Chinese American basketball prodigy in Queens, New York, who has dreams of playing in the NBA, while Pop (born Bashar Jackson) plays Boogie’s basketball rival Monk.

The Brooklyn rapper’s song “Got It On Me” is also featured in the trailer and the soundtrack features new music from Pop Smoke.

In an interview with The New York Times last year, Huang said he knew Pop was a star the moment he auditioned for the role.

“Pop shows up to the audition — Palm Angels head to toe — and he’s just a kid, but he has the voice of 50 Cent and Paul Mooney,” he said. “You can tell he’s weathered, he’s an old soul. Within two takes, you could see the swag just come out of nowhere. He explodes on camera. I stopped the audition right there. He can turn emotions on a dime. He could be funny. He can be mean. A lot of actors just don’t have the depth of emotion and experiences, but because of what Pop’s gone through, he has a tremendous well to draw from.”

Boogie is scheduled for release on March 5.

Meanwhile, Pop’s posthumous debut Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon remains in the top 10 six months after its release. The album sits at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 this week with 47,000 units.