Papoose Speaks on Kendrick Lamar’s BET Cypher

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A preview from Kendrick Lamar’s BET Cypher for the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards recently made its rounds that had many speculating whether it was for Drake or Papoose. Either way, the choice words were potent enough for Papoose to speak on it during a recent interview with XXL:

After hearing a preview of Kendrick Lamar’s BET Cypher for the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards airing on October 15th, the hip hop community assumed that Kendrick was taking shots at Drake. Some speculation occurred afterwards however, that K. Dot may have been aiming his lyrics towards Papoose instead. Either way, Pap had some choice words for Kendrick during his sit down with XXL. Read a portion of the interview below.

So you saw the Kendrick clip that came out from the BET Cypher?
Yeah, yeah, I was hearing about it a lot, and then when I actually clicked on that, I couldn’t believe that that was what everybody was making a big deal out of.

What was your reaction?
Oh, it was comical, man. I laughed.

A lot of people said he was going at you.
I agree with the people, I looked at the majority and they were saying he was going at me. So I agree with the listeners, I agree with the fans. They say majority rules, so I agree with the majority.
You’ve gone back at Kendrick in the past with a verse. Are you planning on that this time?
Yeah yeah, he can’t f**k with me. He’ll never be able to shine my shoes, lyrically. So I’m just gonna be able to continue to prove that, to show and prove, like I did on “Control.” This is hip-hop, I love hip-hop, but I just want to continue to show and prove that he can’t f**k with me lyrically. You can look forward to that in my next release, straight up. I live in the studio, that’s my second home. So yeah, I’m definitely going to respond.
Are you going to wait to hear the full verse?
I don’t gotta wait, he’s very predictable. I already know what he’s capable of and what he’s gonna say; he’s very predictable. I don’t gotta wait. I can go right now and crush that little 15-second sh*t he did. That ain’t even about nothing. The guy’s predictable; he’s a very predictable artist. I already know what he’s gonna say before he even says it.
It kinda seemed like Kendrick had gone through your “Control” response line by line in his verse.
Oh, definitely. Cosmic Kev out in Philly, when he played it, he said the record reminded him of “Ether.” I think that just ate his soul alive; as much as he wanted to take the high road and try to say that he was too much of a big shot to respond, I think it ate him alive and he couldn’t resist.
You think you struck a nerve with him?
Oh, more than a nerve, I struck the entire nervous system. He couldn’t sleep at night, when he opened his freezer he’d see my face, when he closed his eyes…[Laughs] I’m just bullsh*tting. But I think that struck a nerve, definitely. It shook the ground up, let’s keep it real—when I dropped my response, it shook the ground up. You got guys who say, “this response or that one,” but come on, man, my “Control” response has over a million views already. I look around at some of the other guys, they got 300,000 or something like that, you know what I mean? There’s no comparison. Come on.