Given the increasing amounts of violence and police brutality taking place in front of our eyes, hip hop continues to act as the voice for the oppressed. This week, Papoose decided to join the battle-on-wax with his latest release “Tribute,” which takes the idea of 50 Cent’s classic single “Many Men” and borrows from Tavares “Out of the Picture” to help push the Brooklyn emcee’s powerful message. Listeners can get a lesson on many of the Black lives lost over the past century in alphabetical order:
“Amadou Diallo was shot 19 times, the police fired 41 shots combined, mistaken identity, they had to admit it, when they went to trial, all four officers got acquitted/
Ahmaud Arbery, his skin made him a target, two racist white men shot him while he was jogging, Betty Jones was inside of her house, the day after Christmas when shots rang out…/
Dominic Fuller was murdered, it gets stranger, they say he had a gun, all he had was a stapler, Eric Garner, he was a father, but now a martyr, ain’t deserved to be slaughtered…/”
This isn’t the first time Papoose took his socially conscious bars to wax, either — he previously released a “Trayvon Martin Tribute,” which appeared on his 2012 project Most Hated Alive. Alongside his wife Remy Ma, he also spoke to “The Real” about how he’s been dealing with life — and death — during the still very-active Coronavirus pandemic:
“One of my cousins passed away from coronavirus … one of my uncles passed away and the hospitals are so focused on COVID-19, that they’re not really catering to them. So it was a neglect thing but you can’t question God’s plan. I have a ton of friends who actually have coronavirus so it’s rampant. It’s really hit home.”
You can press play on “Tribute” below.