In it, Pap went on an alliteration rampage. He ran through all the letters of the alphabet, making sure every word of a section started with the same letter. "Ghetto genius, genuine gestures gracefully guide/Government generals gradually generating genocide" went one representative section.
Now Papoose, whose new album Underrated is coming out on Feb. 15, is bringing the challenge back, but with a twist. "Numerical Slaughter," which Complex is proud to premiere, features the rapper attacking numbers instead of letters. From one through nine (with the promise of more to come), Pap destroys the DJ Premier-produced track, effortlessly working in lines like "Had to run from two cops for two blocks, it's too hot/Hand on my .22, listening to 2Pac."
Stream "Numerical Slaughter" below:
Papoose was inspired to create his new song by fan reaction to its predecessor. "I initially released 'Alphabetical Slaughter' over 20 years ago and to this day fans still mention that track. From comments on social media, to people just walking up to me on the street to tell me it’s their favorite hip-hop song," he told Complex in a statement. "Every other month I see another artist creating their own version of the concept. I figured since fans love the song so much, I would give them something similar on my Underrated project; but this time, flip the numbers. DJ Premier is one of my great friends and favorite producer of all time. I wouldn't allow any other producer to assist me on this track."
Premier was happy to play the part that DJ Kay Slay performed on the original. "I met Pap back in the early '90s when he did 'Alphabetical Slaughter' and many years later he did it over with DJ Kay Slay calling out the letters during the verses," Preemo commented. "Pap reached out to me and told me he wanted to do a numerical version and have another DJ shout out the numbers. We linked up in my studio and it came out raw!"
You can pre-order Underrated here and get another taste of the album via the video for lead single "The Golden Child."
