Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon

The released cover of Pop Smoke's posthumous debut is a single chrome rose on a black background. It was made by the conceptual artist Ryder Ripps, and according to Wikipedia it was chosen by Pop Smoke's mother only hours before the album came out. It replaced an earlier design by Virgil Abloh that lasted barely a day.

Abloh's version placed a greyscale photograph of Pop Smoke among metallic roses and barbed wire. He explained it on Instagram: Pop Smoke had told him "his story felt like the metaphor of a rose & thorns growing from the concrete of his hood in Canarsie, Brooklyn." Fans were unmoved. They pointed out that the photograph was the first result on a Google search, called the graphics clip art and the result "lazy," and a petition gathered thousands of signatures. 50 Cent, the album's executive producer, posted dozens of fan-made alternatives. Ripps then accused Abloh of taking his "entire chrome rose concept" and ruining it with careless design.

Steven Victor, Pop Smoke's manager and label head, answered within hours: "Pop would listen to his fans. Making a change." The final cover kept the rose and dropped everything else, a quiet memorial to a 20-year-old rapper killed in February 2020. The album went to number one on the Billboard 200. It was released on 3 July 2020.