Three years after his tragic death, Bashar “Pop Smoke” Jackson’s mother, Audrey Jackson, is opening up about the night her life was forever changed. Today (March 13), ABC News announced “Tone Death: Loss & Hip Hop,” a segment that “documents the violence plaguing the rap community in recent years,” will air live on its news stream Tuesday (March 14) at 8:30 p.m. Audrey will be featured on the program, as she is seen speaking with a reporter about the moment she learned about her son’s passing in a sneak-peek clip.
In the brief video, a reporter was seated across from Audrey and said, “You get a phone call. Can you walk me through it?” Audrey responded by recounting how she learned about the Feb. 19, 2020 incident. “[They] said, ‘He’s been shot, but he’s okay.’ I just know people kept coming to the house, and even when folks kept coming, I was like, ‘But he’s okay, why are y’all here?'”Audrey stated.
She went on to discuss the moment she was informed that her son later passed away. Audrey then displayed her facial and body reaction to the news before further revealing how she processed her son’s death. “It didn’t sink in. Ummm. And as I was moving through, it still wasn’t… It didn’t hit until I actually saw his body, which was a few days in. Intellectually, I understood. And that kind of is still where I am. Intellectually, I understand it. The rest of me hasn’t,” Audrey revealed.
On the night of Feb. 19, 2020, Pop Smoke was reportedly taking a shower at his Hollywood Airbnb when a group of masked intruders raided the home with intentions to rob the rapper for valuables previously shown on social media. Pop Smoke reportedly attempted to fight back and was fatally shot by a 15-year-old as others repeatedly kicked him on the floor. One of the suspects, 20-year-old Corey Walker, faces a maximum life sentence without parole after the DA’s office declined to seek the death penalty.
Since his passing, Pop Smoke has earned two consecutive posthumous No. 1s on the Billboard 200 chart. His first came in 2020 after his debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, was released. Audrey accepted the Top Billboard 200 Album honor for the 19-track body of work at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. The second No. 1 came two months after the event, in July 2021, after Faith, Pop Smoke’s sophomore posthumous album, hit streaming platforms.