I downloaded the Best of Papoose mixtape without knowing who Papoose was or what to expect and I have to, I'm impressed. The mixtape flows beautifully and is mostly devoid of the omnipresent DJ hyping just about everything, but especially the track he's yelling over. It's kind of like watching a movie with your drunk friend whose already seen it and wants to tell you when the best parts are coming up. But Best of Papoose doesn't do much of that and that works in its favor.

Best of Papoose does an excellent job of showing the different voices of Papoose, flattering each one by pointing to those moments when he's at his best. And when he's at his best, his rhymes are tight and clever and tend to lead towards a larger point, as opposed to getting to the next punch-line or keeping his thoughts within a two or four line parameter. There are plenty of tracks on the mixtape where his rapping has direction and he doesn't repeat the same idea twice. Those tracks also tend to be the more political and personal tracks on the mixtape. Rarely does Papoose sound as in control when he's talking about anything even remotely related to guns or money.

If Wikipedia is telling the truth, Papoose has never released an album, but he's already got some big name producers lined up. I think that's impressive but not surprising. There are plenty of tracks on this mixtape where he does his thing over club or radio ready beats, but devoid of any mention of violence or misogyny. It's always been unclear to me to what extent those topics are responsible for album sales and to what extent they disturb listeners, even to the point where they avoid the artist altogether. So many big rap songs have amazing beats and somewhat upsetting lyrics that it's hard for me to tell if they've been married to capitalize on the marketability of both or if the latter has just been tacked onto the former because, up till now, that's what has always worked. Either way, that dynamic is obviously not as ubiquitous as it once was (see: Graduation) and a Papoose record might be able to give all those big producers a chance to work with a talented rapper who isn't going to need an abacus to score the body count by the end of the album.

The Best of Papoose isn't perfect. There are some dead tracks and it can occasionally feel disjointed, although very rarely. These tracks were obviously recorded over a wide time span and the quality of Papoose's voice tends to vary every few tracks. But these are small things and the mixtape is worth listening to - maybe right now. I'm excited for his album, I just hope he stays in his comfort zone and listens to his political voice. Otherwise, he might just blend in.

Papoose - Best of Papoose