Stutter Rap

Papoose - Stuttering

I had the mask over my head, squeezed over reddish curls. My shoes were off and I was padding about in my socks. I had my bag marked ‘swag’ and my crowbar tucked into the belt of my kecks as I stepped out into the internet to see what I could steal. Nothing fancy mind, and nothing that would deprive a struggling artist of their wel… ok, anything. I came across a file that someone had just left there - honest yr honour. It said ‘Papoose: First Seven Mixtapes’. I grabbed it and ran, through sites, pop-ups and virus checkers, instant messages, emails and spam until I finally made it home.

Ladies and gentlemen, crime pays. I love Papoose. His delivery has a Jay Z swagger but with additional fire and venom. His budget is probably a fraction of Jay Z; the vocal always seems detached from the music that is desperately trying to keep up in the background. The music itself isn’t that great; nothing in the league of ‘Liquid Swords’ or anything by such sonic designers as Heat Sensor or The Black Serpent Choir, but when you can rap like this, it doesn’t matter what’s going on behind you.

I don’t understand why he isn’t better known, he really is that turn-it-up good. He’s guested on a few big names’ records and I’ve read that he’s signed a huge deal with Jive who hopefully won’t try to smooth his edges too much (or even worse, gangsta-mo-fy the fuck out of him). He’s done about seventeen Mixtapes to date, all of them recommended for their fire and fury.

His first big record, ‘Alphabetical Slaughter’ saw him running through the alphabet at high speed and it’s breathtaking. For me, flow-wise, he’s up there with my favourites Kool Keith and Chuck D and, according to the man himself, papoose.com is “the greatest website of all time”.

It isn’t.

Papoose My Space

Domino Jones.