A man convicted in Pop Smoke's 2020 murder has publicly apologized to the rapper's mother. Blockstar, who was 17 at the time, made the comments in an XVTV interview published October 13, per XXL, which ran its report October 15. He said he never got the chance to apologize to her, and that the killing wasn't personal. He described it as a situation that "was never supposed to go like that."
What's confirmed
Blockstar is one of four men convicted in the case. XXL reports he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion burglary and was sentenced to four years and two months in juvenile detention. He was released on time served shortly after his 2023 conviction.
The other three, per XXL:
Corey Walker was 19 at the time and was sentenced in 2025 to 29 years in prison. Keandre Rodgers was 18 and was initially charged with murder; XXL, citing NME, says his case is being reassessed. Deijae Jester was 15, the youngest. XXL reports a recorded call revealed he fired the shots that hit Pop Smoke three times in the back. In August, Jester was sentenced to four years in county jail for smuggling fentanyl into the juvenile detention center where he was held. XXL's report doesn't name the court that heard these cases.
The read
Real talk: an apology in a video interview, from a man already out, doesn't carry the weight of what was lost. A young artist from Brooklyn was killed in a home invasion at 20, and his mother has been left to carry that. We're not going to dress this up as a redemption arc.
What the interview does show is how young everyone in this case was. A 15-year-old, a 17-year-old, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old. The sentences ranged from four years to twenty-nine, and one case is still being reviewed. That gap is its own conversation about the system. There's been no public response from Pop Smoke's family in the XXL report. We'll update if that changes.