Brooklyn, New York emcee & songwriter Papoose back with his 13th EP. Emerging under the mentorship of the late Streetsweepers Entertainment founder DJ Kayslay, he would go onto release 25 mixtapes building up towards his full-length debut The Nacimera Dream during my sophomore year of high school. Both entries of the Hoodie Season duology would later come in preparation for the sophomore effort You Can’t Stop Destiny couple months succeeding my high school graduation, with Back 2 the Streets & Underrated alongside Food for Thought & Endangered Species all following. He announced Bars on Wheels: A Journey to Save Hip Hop earlier this week & it’s up on DSPs, coming off all 12 of the 2021 extended plays.
“Need for Speed” works in a drumless soul sample to get things going talking about not slowing down killin’ his competition & once “Big 3” takes the boom bap route instrumentally making French Toast out of puttin’ bread on these eggheads, “I Said What I Said” finishes up the 1st half maintaining a dusty vibe talking about wack muhfuckas flipping his spaz mode switch making a spooky return to the lab.
To kick off the 2nd leg, “Chill Button” justifiably speaks of residence in hip hop being where all the most notable names are sitting at the throne & making positive back-to-back business moves while “Fentanyl” drumlessly talks about the increasing deaths linked to opioids like the Season 2 premiere of Smiling Friends on April Fool’s Day 2024 had pointed out. The closer “Counting Green” finishes with a lively outro dedicated to stacking his chips.
As much as I highly respect Papoose’s lyrical technicality, I can’t say Bars on Wheels: A Journey to Save Hip Hop will go down to be one of the best EPs he’s ever made although the culture is very much evolving as time goes on rather than being in a position where it needs to be saved. Sean 2Miles’ production on here is merely average compared to Brady Watt’s on Endangered Species during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, but hardcore fans of Pap’s penmanship will enjoy it a lot more than others normally would.
Score: 6/10