Review of Papoose show in the NY Times
rootlesscosmo
12,848 Posts
February 23, 2006Hip-Hop Review | PapooseA Rap Purist Who Aims to Succeed Through Brute Force By KELEFA SANNEHNo drought lasts forever, so eventually a rapper is going to come along and return New York to its position of hip-hop prominence. Lots of veterans are jockeying for position: 50 Cent has made Ma$e and Mobb Deep part of his G Unit family; Sony is hoping to rehabilitate DMX's career; Pharoahe Monch has a new deal with SRC/Universal; Def Jam has signed Nas and has been negotiating with Fabolous.But plenty of rookies have noticed this vacuum, too, and they're hoping to fill it. One of them, Papoose, came to S.O.B.'s on Tuesday night as part of the "Who's Next" concert series sponsored by the hip-hop radio station Hot 97. He has yet to officially release an album, but he has spent the past few years releasing mixtapes nonstop, many in the "Streetsweepers" series released by his mentor, DJ Kayslay. And Tuesday's show gave him a chance to recite some of his best-known verses to a mainly male crowd of New York hip-hop partisans.Papoose is something of a purist. While Southern rappers tend to be sensual ??? emphasizing timbre and timing, grunts and groans, accents (regional) and accents (rhythmic) ??? New York hip-hop tends to be more word-driven. And Papoose clearly loves words: on an early track called "Alphabetical Slaughter," he delivered 26 strictly alliterative stanzas, beginning, "Alert assassins at large, allegedly/ Automatic artillery, angrily aimed and aggressively." (You can imagine how tiresome the whole song is.)This is a rapper who aims to succeed through brute force. At Tuesday's concert his eyes stayed squinted and his frown never melted as he delivered one jab after another; at one point, he declared, "I got a fetish/ For leaving flesh reddish."He wants to make fans remember why they fell in love with New York rap, but one fears Papoose may end up reminding them why they broke up with it instead. Despite a few clever lines, the set was generally monotonous. Even on "Monopoly," when he was rhyming over the lissome beat from Mario's R&B hit "Let Me Love You," Papoose barreled through; he seems to think that with his tough lyrics, he doesn't need a groove.Things got more interesting once the set was over. After thanking the fans and before denouncing a loudmouthed concertgoer, DJ Kayslay conducted a brief seminar on geographic diversity. More specifically, he noted the popularity of Atlanta dance moves in New York nightclubs. And he vowed to teach the guilty parties a new dance move, one that has remained popular in New York for centuries. It begins with a swift swing of the arm. And it ends, for your dance partner, with a swift trip to the dentist.Copyright 2006 The New York Times
Comments
It's really just another way of saying that a lot of contemporary NY rappers are deficient in the style department... which is unfortunately true.
So is this:
Aiyyo it's DJ KaySlay the Drama King
And for those of y'all that don't know
I'm workin with a new artist, he goes by the name of Papoose
And for those of y'all that didn't finish school
Check this out, it's all good
I'ma run y'all through this little Thug-acation right now
And what we gon' do, is we gon' scream out the letters in the alphabet
And every letter you hear screamed out, from A to Z
My man Papoose gon' break it down for you
So what you do, is get your pens, your pads, and take notes
Yo Papoose, let's go!
[Papoose]
(A!) Alert, assassins at large allegedly
Automatic artillery, angrily aimed and aggressively
Accurate AK's angled all ways
Adversary afraid as active ammunition abraise
Accumulated an alias after arrested
Accompanied armed accessory, as an adolescent
(B!) Bridge Benz brolic burner bringin brothers
Betrayer's bodies briefly be body banged bleedin brothers
Blades blastin brave bashin Brooklyn bullet busters
Big biscuits barrels blazin beheadin bitch boasts and bluffers
Borough barricaders beat bringers brutally blast
Bringin blood baths (C!) cover cowards corners collectin cash
Confirmed convicts committin crimes clappin cats
Creepin cashiers causin characters comas, cappin crabs
Chaos causin, clearly commandin Cee-Lo
Cocaine capsule caps colored, capturin customer's C-Notes
Confiscatin combinatin, countin cream capulatin
Cockin calibur chromes creatin casualties compensatin
(D!) Dominatin devoted dealer devastatin
Determination demonstratin, devine dedication
Debatin drug deals, demandin dough distributed
Definitely dividin double-digit dollar dividends
Drama declarin demolishin domain dozer
Directin dumb-dumbs doin dummies dirty disarmin Dojos
(E!) Estimatin earnings enlarged and economically
Equally educatin each exercisin equality
Eliminatin, expirin enemies eradicatin
Erasin evidence every element evacuatin
(F!) Fake fraud faggots frontin for fame fleein from flames
Firin full-fledged four-fours forcin flesh from frames
Fortune fanatic, follow formats for funds faithfully
Fuck five felonies, furiously fightin for freedom fatally
Frigidy, frantic fightin Feds feelin fearful
Finacially fortunate, flippin figures from fifty-fifty
(G!) Gambles gatherin grants, grabbin gauges, gangsta ganks geeks
Gettin green, Guess garments gleamin, greatly gainin G's
Ghetto genius, genuine gestures gracefully guide
Government generals gradually generatin genocide
(H!) Head hoodlum, hittin heads heavenly, hypnotizin
Hire hitmen harnessly, holdin heaters, hospitalizin
High holdin hammers hectically hittin herbs, homicidin
Helicopter hijackin holdin hostages, horrifyin
(I!) Intellectually infinite imperial idol infamous
Inhale the Izm, injectin intelligence in ignorance
(J!) Jungle jump juggler, jaw-jabbin jeopardizer
Jackin jewelry jingles, jackknife jiggin jittery jivers
(K!) Konnivers, knowledge key, keep a king, keep a kingdom
KKK killin, keenly keepin kosher
(L!) Livin legitimate, legal license, Lex' lastin longevity
Luxury life, language lacin lyrical legacy
Lightin L's, loudly loungin livin large like Luther
Loadin long Lugers lethally lullabying losers
(M!) Maneuvers, made miraculously, microphone majesty
Music messiah mastered money makin mathematically
(N!) Naturally negative, Notorious, Naughty Nature
Nasty New York nigga narcotic negotiator
(O!) Observator, oppression obstructin originator
Organized official officer oxen operator
(P!) Plot participator, plan powder pushin premeditated
Po-Po partners patrolin preventin payment
Prosecutin penny pinchers, prison penalty permanent placement
Packin powerful pistols punk plea and player's playin pavement
(Q!) Quote ??? "Queen's qualifyed quantity quality"
(R!) Rulers rule righteously rightfully royal rapology
Real revolutionaries rather regulate rivalry
Rampantly raisin raiders rampagin relentless rivalry
(S!) Semi-sub, snub slugs snipin sharp shooter
Smackin soldiers silly severely shankin stupid (T!) troopers
Terrorizin, terrible thorough thug terrifyin
Totin two tecs, takin territories thoroughly thrivin
(U!) Unifyin ultimately upliftin uncivilized
Unique understandin universally utilized
(V!) Visualize vocab victoriously vocalized
Versatile vice-versa verbals viciously victimize
(W!) Wise willy witty wisdom wagin wars wisely
(X!) X-Con (Y!) yappin y'all yearningly (Z!) zig-zag Z!
[Interlude: DJ KaySlay]
Hold on hold on
My nigga Papoose just took y'all, through the whole alphabet
A to Z, now we 'bout to flip it backwards, Z to A
Yo Papoose, get at these niggaz man, let's go!
[Papoose]
(Z!) Zig-zag zigs involved weighin Zambian Zaires
Zodiac zone and Zulu's, Zion's zap a zillion zillionaires
(Y!) Yo you yeah, yesterday's youth yearnin your yen
You yellow-bellied Yankee ying-yang yellin "yes"-men
(X!) X-rated, ex-African, X-Man
Ex-leaders, ex-Clarence, X Malcolm, X-Clan
(W!) We want war, World War, world-wide warnin
Walkin with weapons we wackin walkie-talkie wearin wardens
We with whatever, want what whylin wherever war went
Warlock, warpath, warfare, warriors and Warren's ??? wait, what, why?
[Outro: DJ KaySlay ??? over last two lines]
Hold up hold up, yo I'm just playin
Yo chill, yo chill chill chill man, chill man
We gon' save that for YOUR album, "Thug-acation"
Papoose, comin soon
A&R's, holla at me now, or suffer later
Wow, what a blazing new concept.
Now, can someone please tell me why this dude's nom-de-rhyme is PAPOOSE? Is that some sort of thinly veiled backpacker reference?
I am interested in knowing that Pap was once planning to release an album called Thugacation, though...
clever of him to do an album with the word "thug" in the title. sounds original.
He should do a song with the greek alphabet instead. get all the sorority bitches dancing.
Stick up for your man (ayo) then!
Tell us why you mad!
Does "Dap Hat Spot" refer where dude copped that fake Vuitton lid? Like, some hat-specific offshoot of Dapper Dan's or something?
just saying.
Papoose is garbage, man. Pointing that out does not = hatting.
And all this talk about him being the next from New York is embarassing and pathetic.
It sounds good on paper, but have you actually heard the guy?
i think he has good mic presence. his material is old, but the delivery lets me look past that.
his mildly 'tarded voice lets me not.
track w/ busta
http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0URJIZM1Q8JRY3FRHY61J1SKKJ
now mind you i'm hardly someone to defend the guy since i only heard of him recently. maybe i'll get sick of his "'tarded" voice.
Say, that's actually a pretty good comparison!
I dont believe you really heard him,i think you're making this up.
I should put this as my location. LMBAO
Actually, I don't argue. I proclaim.
Where will it stop?
Perhaps I will listen to this when I get home, and then make more proclomations. Or I will keep talking about something I vaguely remember seeing on mtv many months ago.
West-Coast record dudes are to the exclamation point as Midwest record dudes are to the ellipsis as East-Coast record dudes are to the period.
Dang, I wish I could spell gooder.