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Papoose, a rapper, is an expert on grit. He wanted to be a hip-hop superstar when he was a child in Bed-Stuy. He was winning street fights, producing excellent music, and selling CDs out of his trunk, but he lacked contacts in the business. He had grit and perseverance, however.
On this week’s episode of “Renaissance Man,” Pap a.k.a. Papoose a.k.a. Shamele Mackie said, “But the DJ attracted my attention because he was playing fresh musicians on the radio.” I thought, “I’ve got to meet this guy. As a result, I went and checked up Hot97’s address before turning on the radio.
The renowned DJ Kay Slay, who died away in April 2022, was the guy on the radio.
I handed my CD to him. He didn’t play it on the radio the first time, but I persisted. I went back… I was famished at the moment, he said. And he kept returning, he claims, until they both became tired of one another: Pap of Kay Slay bugging him and Kay Slay of Pap of Pap not playing his CD. Then, after a heated exchange, a buddy who was with Kay Slay intervened, defused the situation, and gave Pap his word that he had his back.
I was back in the neighborhood. my phone rang in the midst of a crisis, and it was Kay Slay. You’ll be on the radio next week, he said.
Such a big break! A human rap radar, Kay Slay was. He helps find and promote emerging talent by keeping his ears to the ground. He would coach Pap and include him on mixtapes with well-known musicians. Pap quickly discovered that he was being courted by every hip-hop label.
“Nas got in touch with me. Nas and I had a conversation when he and Jay-Z were on their way to Def Jam when we met at a lower Manhattan pizzeria. He extended a bid. Interscope invented it. Several other labels expressed interest in me. Regarding the $1.5 million deal he inked in 2006, he said that Jive “came in with the biggest amount.
The autonomous spirit, freestyle, and inventiveness that made Pap so successful, however, didn’t mesh well with the more regimented, formulaic record industry, as he quickly discovered.
“I lost creative control, which made it one of the worst blunders I’ve ever done,” the author said. They began instructing me on how to produce records,” he stated.
The “Alphabetical Slaughter” musician bounced back, but his expertise in the business guided his most recent career move: he became head of hip-hop at TuneCore, a digital music distributor that is upending the established paradigm that favors labels rather than artists.
He remarked, “I believe that whatever your worth as an artist is, you should cash in on it. “Even if you are a rising star with a modest fan following. You should cash in on your genuine worth whether the amount is little or large. But it is the main focus. The priority at [TuneCore] is the artist.
He will be giving artistic guidance in his executive capacity. Additionally, he has some general wisdom to impart—the interpersonal kind. He wed Remy Ma, a fellow rapper, in 2008 when she was serving a six-year sentence for criminal assault. He said that their physical distance helped them establish a solid foundation.
“We took things day by day… It taught us a lot of things, including communication, but I won’t say it was a gift in disguise. I think a lot of relationships fall apart due to poor communication,” he remarked. “However, while she was gone, all we could do was chat, although sometimes I would go see her. Put your hands on the table, they would order. We came up with a method where everytime she speaks, I must remain completely silent. She needs to remain completely silent when I’m talking.
By doing so, they acquired the ability to communicate effectively and listen to one another. They are now among the longest-lasting couples in hip-hop. a quality the couple displayed when appearing in the reality series “Love & Hip Hop” and “Remy & Papoose: Meet The Mackies.”
We were created for survival.
»With Papoose, Jalen Rose discusses his resolve and upcoming nuptials«
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