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They say that time is a healer. However, for Brooklyn rhymer
Papoose time hasn’t been the kindest of souls. His official arrival on the scene back in 2004 came at a time when records were selling and rap was the toast of the commercial market. With
50 Cent then the hottest thing out, Papoose’s buzz trumped that of the
G-Unit General’s with ease. Appearing on every hot record at the time - notably the all star remix to
Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It” - there was no stopping the kid. With a reported $1.5 million deal on the table too, all that was left to do was drop the album.
Having always been titled
The Nacirema Dream (Nacirema being the word American backwards), problems arose for the young upstart when he and mentor
DJ Kayslay decided to remake the album due to his unexpected commercial popularity. Instead of releasing the album as it was, which tailored more towards his mixtape roots - he won a Justo Mixtape Award for Best Underground Artist in 2005 - he succumbed to the requests of collaborations with the likes of
Pharrell Williams and
Kanye West. Time went on, perfection began to take over, and then Papoose in 2007 packed his bags and left
Jive Records citing A&R issues.
Today finally seeing the light of day,
The Nacirema Dream is a surprisingly good body of work with momentary dents.
There are not too many artists who can say that they’re looked upon as family by 9th Wonder, had regular phone conversations with the late great J Dilla, and watched Jay-Z literally open doors for them. The aforementioned do however apply to Brooklyn spitter Skyzoo.
Taking the time to sit down with SoulCulture whilst on a brief trip to the UK, it’s apparent that Gregory Skyler Taylor, as the government knows him, is as good a hip-hop aficionado as any. With his new project A Dream Deferred just released, Skyzoo explains how he came to learn about song structures, which came in handy for the Brooklynite being that he’s now had a Billboard charting album - 2009’s The Salvation.