Papoose

Brooklyn rapper Papoose faced over a decade of label obstacles before independently releasing mixtapes and finally dropping his debut album, The Nacirema Dream, to critical acclaim in 2013. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Papoose initially gained recognition through features on tracks like "Home Sweet Funeral Home" on Kool G Rap's album Roots of Evil and prolific mixtape releases. Despite signing a $1.5 million deal with Jive Records in 2006, label setbacks led to no commercial releases, prompting Papoose to leave the label and continue his mixtape output until the release of his debut album on Fontana Records' Honorable Records imprint in 2013.

The Nacirema Dream featured collaborations with notable artists like Mobb Deep and Erykah Badu, debuting at number 97 on the Billboard 200 chart and solidifying Papoose's position in the rap scene. Following this success, he continued to release mixtapes and dropped his second studio album, You Can't Stop Destiny, in 2015. Papoose and his wife, rapper Remy Ma, also appeared on the VH1 reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York as he prepared for the release of his third studio album, Underrated, in 2019.