PAPOOSE LEAVES JIVE RECORDS

Brooklyn-based rapper Papoose has been working on his debut album, Nacerima Dream, which was scheduled to be released through Jive Records. The rapper signed a $1.5 million deal with the label in 2006. Unfortunately even after releasing a single, “Bang It Out” featuring Snoop Dogg, the rapper and label were unable to get on the same page.

DJ Kay Slay, who has been a mentor to Papoose, shared his thoughts on the situation during his radio show on WQHT-FM. Slay said, “We have officially gotten our release from Jive f**king Records. It was like a f**king year of hell. Big shout to Barry Weiss and Peter Tea. I want to shout them out. They meant well. They believed in the project. Unfortunately, we almost became victims of A&R hell. You cannot put a 60-something-year-old white man on a 20-something-year-old black kid’s project from Brooklyn and think it’s gonna pop. No you cannot. You will wind up with certain records that we didn’t want to come, And like I said, it’s not a bashing, it’s a reality.”

“Shaq is a comedian, you know what I mean, real funny individual. I was just out in Atlanta with him the other day. You know he just a fun individual to be around. I respect him because he down to earth even though he’s filthy rich. He don’t act like he better than nobody and he spread a lot of love. he definitely gave me opportunities to expose my talent.”

While Papoose will be entertaining several offers, he may decide to go the indie route and sign with Shaquille O’Neal’s Koch Records-distributed label. DJ Kay Slay released a project with Atlanta deejay Greg Street through the label last year.

Papoose shared what his relationship with Shaq is like. He said,