In my younger days there's no way you could of told me Papoose wasnt gonna be NYC's next rap superstar...

[Premeditated]

might as well turn this into, who you thought would be a superstar, thread

i thought Bishop Lamont would blow up

 

[Dem313wayz]

He never took off his hats so his rap career never took off

 

[ciubaca]

Everyone had high hopes for Saigon too

 

[feelosofer]

He was never a truly mainstream rapper. He was basically the most accessible street rapper at the moment. He never had 50s charisma or The Lox/Dipset type of following. If anything both he and Saigon had the same problem they built a solid street following and both took way too long to drop an official album.

 

[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

Yes, Papoose and Lil Eazy-E

 

[Greenhornet]

he was a niche artist and didnt have a good voice or charisma
great lyrics but not one of the goat punchline dudes remotely

 

[Finesse]

Everyone had high hopes for Saigon too

Yup Saigon, Pap, Termanology all up in the ipod.


I remember those days......the good ol days

 

[maxamusa]

he damn near ruined the touch it remix


hustle hard was my shyt tho

 

[lepard]

He can somewhat write but he can’t make a song. That’s the problem with a lot of these so called lyrical rappers.

 

[NormanConnors]

well at one point I kinda thought Cory Gunz was gonna be something too, and look how both them shyts turned out

does anybody have a link to Papoose's first alphabet raps from the years before he linked with Kay Slay? I swear he had a earlier version that was even iller, and he just replayed that same move once he got up with Kay Slay. Before all that Pap used to rap with Kool G Rap before the Kay Slay mixtape days and he was maybe even doper back then, I remember that shyt but it seems buried on the internet at this point


Pap was always still potentially ill after that too. I remember the hype off the "Five boroughs of death got New York City in the palm of my hand" verse on Busta Rhymes shyt, and it was cool for the time but I'd much rather hear the regular original Touch It than the remix at this point. And he even had a chance of hype again years later with the Kendrick/Control verse response. I remember thinking he coulda done a 2Chainz style rename/reinvention. And or coulda had a bigger moment with Remy Ma. and even again after that with the Lil Wayne african song a few years ago. He's always had talent but was corn at the same time. He's had many opportunities but he never quite made it work


The easiest answer may be that taking the biggest money contract doesnt always work out, Jive may have offered the bigger advance money but they were already pretty clearly not that good a label for Rap artists by the time Pap & Kay Slay took that particular deal. He had a decent bidding war going at that point, but just cuz they offer a bigger advance doesnt mean they know what to do with you, or how to help you develop to a higher level.

Pap used to sound like Big L when he was with G Rap

 

[Redwing80]

Papoose had a buzz in 06 anyone saying different is a fukking liar

 

[REAL6]

 

[KillKenny]

"Loved by few, hated by many, respected by all
He said it in Nothing Changed, not sure it's not a quote.
Anyway, although he had some stupid punchlines, he had fire back then, but I tend to agree the mainstream sound shifted in that era and his style wasn't a good fit anymore.

 

[KillKenny]

Yup Saigon, Pap, Termanology all up in the ipod.


I remember those days......the good ol days

Damn, that's so true!!!
I gotta say I'm usually also mentioning Crooked I in these conversations, though you can say that with Slaughterhouse he got bigger than the others

 

[newarkhiphop]

I knew pap wouldn't make it same way I knew canibus and chino xl wouldn't make it