By: Mara, The Hip Hop Socialite
Papoose On His Love For Remy Ma: “I Knew She Needed Me”
Women love a man that loves his woman, and Papoose has a whole new legion of female fans after standing by his wife, Bronx born emcee Remy Ma, while she served six-years behind bars for assault, illegal weapon possession, and attempted coercion charges.
Ever since Remy’s release over the summer, she and Pap have become one of hip-hop’s most beloved couples. They’ve gracing the pages of magazines, made a multitude of appearances together, and slayed the cypher at the 2014 BET Hip-Hop Awards.
I began receiving emails from some of you about interviewing Papoose after I wrote about attending Remy’s private dinner party at Don Pancho’s in the Bronx in September. You wanted to hear what it was like for him to wait for Remy while she was away, and you were curious about what’s next for the couple. Of course I always try to give you what you want, so I arranged a time to get on the phone with him through his publicist and my friend, Marie Driven. During our talk, we discussed the possibility of he and Remy getting their own reality show, his experience waiting for Remy while she was away, and the thing that made him fall in love with her. Check out highlights from our conversation below.
ON THE POSSIBILITY OF HIM AND REMY DOING A REALITY SHOW:
“Yeah I’ve been approached over a hundred times to do a reality show, but we turned down a couple of options. As far as me ever doing it, it would have to be the right situation – everything would have to be right, and not based upon negativity ’cause we not with that.
“I don’t want to talk bad about the program [Love & Hip-Hop: NY, which they were once rumored to be doing]; I got respect for Mona Scott, you know what I’m saying. I was at Violator back then, and she was working over there with Chris [Lighty], R.I.P., and every time I ever met her, it was a peaceful vibe. So I don’t want to talk bad about her program, but me personally, I just don’t want to be in the midst of no negativity. My wife just came out of a six-year bid; I wouldn’t put her in a predicament where she gotta go back, you understand?”
“Like I said, I wouldn’t close the door on it – if the situation is right, and the scenery is set up properly. You never know what the future holds, I don’t want to let too much out the bag, but you never know what the future holds.”
ON THE DIFFICULTIES HE FACED WHILE REMY WAS AWAY:
“No it wasn’t easy – it was an uphill battle the whole time. It felt like the storm wasn’t going to stop at times. Those were some very hard times, but we made it through just by having each other, and staying true to each other. But it definitely wasn’t easy – it’s something you never want to forget. You don’t want to take the good things for granted because those were some hard times day-by-day. Mainly in the beginning, it was the hardest because it was like she just blew trial, and we were hoping for an appeal, but reality was setting in that she was going to be there for some long amount of years. It was tough.”
ON PEOPLE TELLING HIM TO MOVE ON WHILE REMY WAS AWAY:
“Yeah I had a lot of people who felt like that, but people know how dedicated I am, so it really wasn’t a large amount of people who was willing to say that to my face because they know knew how I felt about Remy. But I would hear it was being said behind my back. ‘I was a fool, I was stupid, I should go on with my life ’cause she would do it to me’. Things like that people were saying, and if you ever went through any hard times, you know that everybody leaves ’cause it wasn’t fun to be around me. I had responsibilities – I had to get up in the morning, drive up north, drive back, I had to shop for packages so she could have food to eat. It’s like, basically, Rem occupied a space in my life, but she wasn’t physically there, so I had to live according to that. And you know, just keeping the phone line open for her to be able to call me was an uphill battle because those phone companies that work consistently with the jails to make sure they’re able to reach they family are a bunch of rip-offs, you know what I”m saying? And they got some crazy plans you just gotta be consistent with. Like it’s just a bunch of bulls*it I had to go through to keep my phone on so she could call me. I had to home a certain time, you know what I’m saying? It was just a lot. So it wasn’t really fun to be around me during certain parts of her bid. You know, everybody abandons when the going get tough, you know what I’m saying? It was hard man, it was hard. Just seeing her go through it. You gotta realize, Rem was having her appeals put in, and we would go maybe a year-and-a- half waiting for the results of an appeal, planning our lives on her walking out, and then we would get the results, and we’d just get let down. So I had to watch her go through that, you know what I’m saying? It was hard…I can’t even sit here and front and say it was easy, you know what I’m saying?”
ON WHAT MADE HIM FALL IN LOVE WITH REMY AND THE DECISION THAT LED TO HER CATCHING THE CASE:
“Rem was just a good person. When the situation happened, me and Rem was in love with each other, before it even happened. Like we were inseparable – we would be together every day, all day. And when we wasn’t together, we would be on the phone.”
“I was actually overseas and she was overseas with me. We both was touring, but her tour ended before mine, and she was deciding if she should stay with me or go back home. And that was the f*cking worst decision ever because she decided to go home. And we was counting down the days for me to come back off of my tour, and the last day, the last maybe couple days before I was finally coming home was when she caught the case. And when it happened, I actually left off my tour early to come back when it happened, but just to answer your question, I say all that to say that we was already in love with each other. Sometimes in life when things happen, people change towards the individual because the individual is in a hard, tough situation, but I’m not that type of person, you know what I’m saying? So when it happened, I was devastated because I was like, damn, I don’t feel like she deserve to get put away like, like snatched off the street. And her celebrity and who she is had a lot to do with it. Like she was totally discriminated against throughout the trial. Like if you was to sit in on the trial, you would see how ridiculous it was. Like there was no evidence, the stories were inconsistent – I don’t really want to go into all that, but I didn’t feel like she deserved the short end of the stick that she got. And just think about anybody in your life that’s close to you, and you just watch them go through hell. She didn’t even get a chance to go home and prepare – I’ve seen notorious criminals blow trial, and the judge will allow them to go home and get set to go away. Like rearrange their house, relocate, situate their family – they didn’t even let her 
do that. I had to do that sh*t. I had to go to her crib, move all her sh*t around, situate her – ’cause she was going to be gone for some years – so just to answer your question, it was just so foul how they did her. I was constantly telling her she was going to beat it, and she was telling me, ‘I think I’m going to blow’. And she blew trial, and the sh*t was just devastating for me just to witness that sh*t, you know I’m saying? So I had to be there – I knew she needed me, even though she’s not the type of person to say that, but I knew she needed me, and I had to be there for her.”
ON HIS NEW MUSIC:
“Yeah, I’mma do a new project. I have a new project called ‘You Can’t Stop Destiny’ – I’m deciding on exactly when I’m going to drop it. Most likely it’ll be next year. Early next year, I’mma come with that.”
“I’ve got a couple of producers [working with him on the project]. I’ve got DJ Premier. I really judge producers by their work – I really don’t get stuck on names. This guy right here, this is the guy that’s done the last couple hit records,so I need to get him on my music. I don’t really work like that; I go off what I hear. If it’s something I feel, I’ll work on it. But I got Premier, I’m working with Ron Browz, the list goes on. Just guys that got heat. A lot of unknown names got heat out here.”
ON HIM AND REMY DOING AN ALBUM TOGETHER:
“I feel like it’s ahead of us, but being that she’s been gone so long, I just want her to do her, and focus on what she need to do. And eventually, we’ll get around to that.”
I love a good love story, and Papoose and Remy are the true definition of “love & hip-hop”. I am so looking forward to what the future holds for them, and I think I speak for everyone when I say I wish them the best.
