When you are beginner at popping there are a few things you need to focus on first. First of all get into a dance class or learn from a good popper if you can.
Once you know how to pop and some of the basic moves, practise these so you know them well. Especially the basic pop and important things like the fresno.
What you want to do is to dance to a beat (check the page 'popping music' if you need help on this).
The first thing that is absolutely essential is to be able to dance and pop on the beat. You really shouldn't move on and try other stuff with the music before you can even do this.
If you can't do this, then your popping will never look right. Many people have no idea how to dance on beat, you need to learn this first.
Listen to the song you are dancing to and find where the beats are, where the backbeat is. And then start popping to it so the pops happen at the same time as the beats.
When beginning it can be a good idea just to pop to all of the beats in the song you've chosen to get into the habit of dancing on beat.
I think this is the first thing a popper must learn. To do basic pops and the fresno and be able to dance them on beat.
If you are really having trouble hearing the beat, get a teacher or another popper to show you. How can you dance if you don't know what you're dancing to? You can't.
It doesn't matter if you know all the moves or can combine them together brilliantly, if you can't dance them on beat you're not popping! Don't skip this beginners!