Papoose and several of his Love & Hip Hop: New York co-stars recently participated in a special edition of the long-running reality show called Love & Hip Hop: Lineage To Legacy, which premiered on February 7. Using DNA samples collected by DNA Identity Expert Dr. Gina Paige, co-founder of African Ancestry, the show aimed to do a deep dive into the cast’s African roots.
The Brooklyn-bred Papoose, who always assumed he was Liberian, discovered he’s actually from the West-Central African country of Cameroon. More specifically, he hails from the musical tribe of Tikar. In a recent interview with HipHopDX,the veteran rapper spoke about the importance of exploring who he is as a person and where he comes from.
“I feel like we function better when we know these things,” he explains to DX. “Certain foods that we eat that don’t agree with us, we shouldn’t be eating, but you have ancestors who walked these paths before us, certain remedies that we can have when we become ill that will help us more than the things that we’re forced here in these European countries. So, just learning your true history, you learn so many secrets, and I feel like it makes us stronger.”
For Papoose, shooting the two-part series was noticeably different from filming Love & Hip Hop: New York and a much more “emotional” experience considering what African-Americans have had to endure over the last 400 years.
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“It’s sad what happened to us back then,” he says. “It’s sad. So, we just hear it out. And it’s sad that we got to go through this to find out where we’re from. Other people have things passed down from their ancestors and they’re able to benefit. And I feel like we were robbed of that. It was sad, it was emotional and it was very different from the typical shoot.”
Remy Ma, who’s been married to Papoose since 2008, was also featured on the show and had a chance to explore her roots as well. The couple has been featured together on Love & Hip Hop: New York since Season 6, shortly after Remy Ma was released from prison. The 41-year-old served roughly seven years behind bars for allegedly shooting Makeda Barnes-Joseph at a Manhattan nightspot. But Papoose remained by her side until she was eventually released in 2014.
Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica & DJ Kay Slay Told Papoose He Can't Retire From Rap: 'Ooh This Like A Gang?'
Last year, Papoose was planning on retiring from rapping and released 12 albums in 12 months as his final farewell. Needless to say, his studio time increased exponentially and Remy wasn’t exactly happy about it.
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“My wife was so mad at me,” he says with a laugh. “We are in a very committed marriage, and I’m so devoted to her all the time. And in the process of me doing the music so much, it took a lot of my attention. I had to focus on the music more. And she was like, ‘Oh my God.’ So, this year came and I was reconsidering my retirement, I said, ‘I’m about to do January part two and do it all over again.’ She was like, ‘Let me know, so I can move.'”
Love & Hip Hop: Lineage To Legacy is available for streaming on VH1. Check out a teaser below.
