Papoose: The Lyrical One
Perhaps Indian Baby is a better moniker for this American rapper. It was his grandmother who gave him the name which means Indian Baby, because he resembled one when he was born. He is considered the hottest rising star and has 12 mixtapes with a total of 227 songs and freestyles which he cranked out in just 18 months. One of his more famous songs, “Alphabetical Slaughter”, is said to be a song wherein the rapper mentions each of the 26 letters of the alphabet in sequence and does it very clearly. He is also known for “Charades”, “Let’s Play Monopoly”, “Flashback” and “Mothernature.”
Papoose was born Shamele Mackie on December 31, 1978. The 2005 Justo Award went to him for being the best underground rapper of the year. His hit song “Freestyle Over Victory” was welcomed by the wrestling world when Jack Evans adopted it as his theme song while in the Ring of Honor.
Papoose’s singing style is unique – recognizable as his known. He uses rhymes frequently, delivering force at the end of each rhyme. He has collaborated on songs featuring stars Bun B, Hell Rell, Ghostface Killah and D-Block, among others. Rumors are going around that he’s currently dating another fellow rapper Remy Ma, although he says she’s more like a sister to him. Papoose has admitted being inspired by Rakim and Big Daddy Kane for his rapping career and has rightly earned the industry’s respect.
Each artist always has a big break in the music industry; for Papoose it was when he landed a spot in Kool G Rap’s “Roots of Evil”. That was in 1999. Shortly thereafter, he released his own smash hit “Alphabetical Slaughter” and waxed his own mix tape called “The Art of War.”
As for the tattoo story, people were saying that Papoose carried tattoos of New York’s City’s five boroughs in each of his fingers but he denied it. In fact he doesn’t have a single tattoo etched anywhere in his body.
“Nacirema” which is America spelled backwards is Papoose’s first major label release scheduled for December this year or early 2007. It will be produced in part by Swizz Beatz and DJ Premier; Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Kay Slay have also been confirmed, so has Talib Kweli. Perhaps the greatest news for Papoose is that he was recently signed into a $1.5 million deal with Jive Records, although this is yet to be confirmed, but everyone’s excited, including Papoose himself naturally.