Papoose

Papoose is the stage name of rapper Shamele Mackie, born on March, 1978, in New York City. Hailing from the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, he featured on Kool G Rap’s 1998 album Roots of Evil before making his official debut with the single “Thug Connection” in 2004. After spending some time in jail, Papoose fully devoted himself to music, issuing over a dozen independently-released mixtapes between 2004 and 2006 and winning the Justo Mixtape Award for Best Underground Artist. Following a frustrated deal with Jive Records, he continued his prolific streak with nine mixtapes between 2007 and 2012, and released his studio debut The Nacirema Dream in 2013 to great critical acclaim. His first full-length reached Number 97 on the Billboard 200 and was followed by 2015’s You Can’t Stop Destiny, which featured production by DJ Premier, Mobb Deep’s Havoc, and Showbiz, and guest spots from A.G., Maino, Red Café, Remy Ma, Troy Ave, and Ty Dolla $ign. In the subsequent years, Papoose became a reality TV show star, appearing on VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York and the spin-off Remy & Papoose: Meet the Mackies, and released the albums Underrated (2019) and Endangered Species (2020). Preceded by the Lil Wayne collaborative single “Thought I Was Gonna Stop,” his fifth studio effort September arrived in 2021.