Pop Smoke’s brother breaks down in tears discussing late rapper

According to Obasi Jackson, his brother Smoke, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, had frequent threats against his life.

Jan 6, 2021

Obasi Jackson, the brother of late rapper Pop Smoke, broke down in tears on Monday’s episode of Taraji P. Henson’s Facebook Watch series.

“Me losing my only brother — I’m going to miss so many things,” Jackson told Henson. “I won’t be able to hug my brother again, tell him I love him, see him again. [I] won’t be able to play basketball with him again, work out with him again. I won’t be able to show him my accomplishments.”

The episode was the first in a two-part series on Peace of Mind with Taraji about the subject, “Grief After Sudden Death.”

Also featured was Asian Doll, whose boyfriend, King Von, was murdered last year.

In the second part on Wednesday, Henson opens up about the murder of her son’s father.

“My son’s father was suddenly taken, murdered when he was nine, and I didn’t know how to tell him that,” Henson, tells Peace of Mind co-host Tracie Jade Jenkins and the episode’s guest, therapist Sierra Hillsman. “I couldn’t tell him he was murdered, so I told him he died in an accident.”

Smoke, a rising-star rapper, was shot and killed when masked men broke into his Hollywood Hills home in an alleged home invasion in February. Four men were charged with his murder in July.

On Monday’s iteration of Peace of Mind, Jackson recounted that his brother, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, had frequent threats against his life.

“There was a time he went through a situation that people were putting him down and counting him out,” he said. “There were threats on his life because of that, and [we] were trying to figure out where the threats were coming from.”

“It’s mind-boggling to me that someone would let a superstar go out with no security; that still plays on my mind,” Jackson said. “That makes no sense.”

He said he and his brother had an in-depth conversation with their mother just days before his death.

“Me, my mom, and my brother sat in a room for hours, which had not happened in years,” said Jackson. “That last conversation [showed me that], ‘Okay, I know my brother loves me, and he knows I definitely love him.’ He said he loved me.”

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