Born in New York, Mackie made his recording debut on Kool G Rap's 1998 album Roots of Evil.

[2] Impressed by his rendition of "Alphabetical Slaughter", Kay Slay signed him to his Streetsweepers imprint.

[9] In September 2007, Kay Slay revealed that he and Papoose had left Jive, saying that they had "almost (became) victims of A&R hell.

After seven years of development and 27 mixtapes in all, Papoose secured a deal with Fontana Distribution to release his debut album The Nacirema Dream.

[14][15] On June 2, 2013, Papoose "crashed" Hot 97's Summer Jam with the help of Top Dawg Entertainment, performing The Nacirema Dream's third single "Get At Me" with Ron Browz.

[16] Following the release of "Control", Papoose took offence to Kendrick Lamar claiming the title of "King of New York" and dissed him in a remix of the track.

Lamar called Papoose's response "comical"[17] and threw shots back at him during the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher.

[18] On October 4, 2013, Papoose responded by saying that Lamar would never be "able to shine my shoes, lyrically" and that he was planning to release another diss track on an upcoming mixtape.

In conjunction with the show, Papoose released the song "Black Love", in tribute to his relationship with Remy.