Papoose

Brooklyn rapper Papoose endured more than a decade between his earliest major exposure on a Kool G Rap recording and the arrival of his initial full-length studio album. Label disputes and stalled negotiations, rather than any shortage of ambition, created the lengthy delay. Opting to sidestep those obstacles, he flooded the market with self-released mixtapes that showcased his raw delivery and streetwise perspective, ultimately cultivating a loyal audience drawn to his East Coast edge. The Nacirema Dream, finished years earlier, finally appeared in 2013 via an independent route and registered on the charts.

Born Shamele Mackie in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant section, Papoose secured his first notable placement with the track “Home Sweet Funeral Home” on Kool G Rap’s 1998 album Roots of Evil. Although the feature sparked label interest, concrete offers failed to follow. He responded by issuing roughly a dozen mixtapes of high-energy material on his own between 2004 and 2005. During that stretch he repeatedly approached New York radio personality Kay Slay on the street with his latest work; impressed, Slay not only featured him on the Streetsweeper series but also launched Street Sweepers Entertainment to position the unsigned MC as the city’s next major voice. Papoose eventually arranged promotional arrangements with Violator Management and Busta Rhymes’ Flipmode Squad while continuing to weigh his options.

After guest spots in 2006, including the remix of Busta’s Top 20 pop single “Touch It,” he inked a $1.5 million deal with Jive Records that August. The Nacirema Dream was already near completion, yet further contractual hurdles postponed its release. To keep fans engaged he issued The Best of Papoose: The Mixtape, a concise overview of his earlier output. No official music emerged during his Jive tenure, and mounting frustrations prompted him to exit the label by late 2007. He resumed his independent schedule, delivering nine additional projects before Most Hated Alive surfaced in late 2012. On the 2009 mixtape 21 Gun Salute he noted that he had retained the full $1.5 million Jive had paid him despite the absence of any release.

The Nacirema Dream reached stores in March 2013, nearly seven years after its completion, through the Fontana-distributed Honorable Records imprint. Fans and reviewers responded positively to the set, which included appearances by Mobb Deep, Erykah Badu, DJ Premier, Jadakiss, and additional rap and R&B figures. It moved strongly and entered the Billboard 200 at number 97. Papoose quickly followed with the November 2013 mixtape Hoodie Season, then Hoodie Season 2 and Cigar Society before unveiling his second studio album, You Can’t Stop Destiny, in 2015. Throughout this period he and his wife, dancehall queen Lady Saw collaborator Remy Ma, appeared on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: New York for multiple seasons while he prepared his third studio effort, Underrated, issued in February 2019.