boogie still pop smoke eddie huang Taylor Takahashi
Pop Smoke, Eddie Huang, Taylor Takahashi on the set of 'Boogie'

Eddie Huang's movie 'Boogie' starring Pop Smoke out in March w/ unreleased music

As mentioned, one of the last things Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke worked on before he died was the movie Boogie, the feature directorial debut of chef and Fresh Off the Boat creator Eddie Huang. It’s just been announced that Boogie will be out March 5 via Focus Features and the film will also feature unreleased Pop Smoke music.

Huang wrote and directed the film and the synopsis calls it a “coming-of-age story of Alfred ‘Boogie’ Chin, a basketball phenom living in Queens, New York, who dreams of one day playing in the NBA. While his parents pressure him to focus on earning a scholarship to an elite college, Boogie must find a way to navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation.” Taylor Takahashi plays Boogie and Pop Smoke plays his rival, Monk.

“A lot of actors just don’t have the depth of emotion and experiences, but because of what Pop’s gone through, he has a tremendous well to draw from,” Huang told The New York Times. “Kids were coming on the bridge to watch us shoot the scenes. We would play Pop’s record. All our actors, the extras, the kids on the bridge watching us shoot scenes, everyone was doing the Woo dance. It was pretty special.”

Huang had, at one point wanted to remake ’80s cult classic The Last Dragon with Pop Smoke playing Sho’nuff, but the project never happened.

Pop Smoke’s posthumous album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon was released in July. He features on Kid Cudi’s new album that’s out this week.