Rapper Pop Smoke accused of taking stolen Rolls Royce to NYC

By Victoria Merlino

Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke was arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday afternoon after allegedly transporting a stolen Rolls Royce Wraith — a car worth over $375,000 — from California to New York. 

The 20-year-old “Welcome to the Party” rapper, born Bashar Jackson, pleaded not guilty to the charge, appearing in court in a white hoodie adorned with a picture of the Mona Lisa, alongside his lawyer Mark I. Cohen. He was arrested earlier that morning at JFK Airport in Queens, according to the criminal complaint.

Prosecutors requested $250,000 bond for the rapper, arguing that he was a flight risk who used multiple aliases. 

“Not to mention the alias he most commonly uses refers to leaving,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gillian Kassner said, referring to Jackson’s stage name “Pop Smoke.”

Kassner also said Jackson has ties to a Brooklyn gang known as the 823 G Stone Crips, and requested that he not have contact with known gang members or the owner of the Rolls Royce, whose name was not given in court proceedings. 

The car’s owner and Jackson entered a verbal agreement for Jackson to use the car in a video in November, a law enforcement source told TMZ. When the car was not returned the following day, the owner reported it as stolen.

Jackson’s lawyer offered up the rapper’s mother’s house in Canarsie as part of the bond deal to have Jackson released. 

Jackson had a meteoric rise to fame last summer with his smash hit “Welcome to the Party,” and is one of the most popular artists to come from the New York rap scene in the past year. He was barred from performing at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park rap festival Rolling Loud this past October by the NYPD, who claimed that he was “associated with recent acts of violence citywide.”

His next day in court will be Feb. 3.