Papi

www.Myspace.com/OfficialPapi

www.Mother-LandRecords.com

Born in Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, PAPI moved to the US in 1997, speaking no English. Since then he settled in the Bronx (by way of Atlanta) and has mastered rapping in 4 languages, though he mainly sticks to English these days. His new single Shake (Fast) dropped on Mother Land Records this September. Currently he is working with his producer The Minister on new material and has recently collaborated with Sandman of The Byrd Gang and performed as the opening act for Saigon. PAPI's song Shake (Fast) is featured on DJ Green Lantern's Myspace Invasion 4 mixtape and Def Jam's DJ DMA &
Shadyville's DJ Domination Presents: The Coast 2 Coast Mixtape Vol. 48 - Hosted By Cassie.

PAPI co-founded Mother Land Records with his producer Syrian born producer Jouhan “The Minister” Daoud, a classically trained pianist. The two met in college and quickly became friends through a mutual love of hip-hop and soccer. They combine their influences of the classical and traditional music of Africa, the Middle East and Africa, with the sound of old school and modern rap from all over the world to create the unique sound they call their own. After a long period of working in the studio with The Minister and collaborating with Sandman (Byrd Gang/ Bad Co.) Chase Dollarz, Haji of his former group Charia and Atif Dijion, they dropped PAPI’s first single “Shake (Fast)” in September 2008.

PAPI, the 6'2” African born rapper, was born in Telemele, a prefecture of Guinea (West Africa) where his mother was visiting his grandfather, and grew up in Conakry. With a dictator as president, life was rough in Guinea. Most teens ended up dropping-out of school and becoming felons. In Conakry, PAPI (his mother gave him the nickname Papi out of respect for his grandfather) was exposed to poverty, famine, and crimes. The things that helped him stay out of trouble were sports and music as well as learning to rap in Fula, Sosso and French. In 1997, his father decided to send him to the United States, because of the political situation and unrest within the country.

PAPI entered the U.S. on July 1, 1997 through JFK airport, NY, speaking no English. He spent the next three years in Atlanta, where he attended high school and wrote his first English verses. He had three difficult years in Atlanta due to misunderstandings with his host family. During that time he spent most of his time listening to music, hip-hop classics like Nas’ “Illmatic,” 2pac’s “All Eyes On Me,” Biggie’s “Life After Death,” Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt,” The Fugees’ “The Score,” and “Its’ Dark And Hell It’s Hot by DMX,” to name a few. The more he listened the more he fell in love with the music and eventually decided to try rapping again, this time in English.

In 2000, he found himself kicked out by his host family and for the next 3 months living on the streets, going from one friend's house to another. During that time he was hustling, doing whatever he had to do to make a living (things you wouldn't want your teenage son doing). From there he moved on to New York City and shortly after that, to New Hampshire to finish high school. After high school PAPI went back to New York City, where life got even harder. PAPI was on his own at 17 paying rent, going to school and providing money to his family back in Africa. Being that he was still illegal then (he has since become a permanent resident of the US,) he couldn't get a job that paid him enough to survive in New York, so he went back to the streets and hustling. In 2003, he met Haji, also from Guinea and started a group called Charia (MB later joined the group) and Charia recorded over a dozen songs, and was almost signed by an Independent label named FM GROOVE, when the group broke up due to disagreements about direction.

"[Shake] is a sinuous, seductive club banger that has a serious ass-shaking groove... major hit potential- Hip-Crap plays like a mission statement, Papi spits out the lyrics with the rapid-fire flow that packs a serious punch- a good introduction from an artist worth following -- and worth hearing"
-Julio Diaz (Pensacola News Journal, Ink19)