How Papoose Flipped Independent Mixtapes Into A Six-Figure Net Worth

If you’re a fan of the underground hip hop scene, you’re surely familiar with the prolific New York MC Papoose. The rapper, whose real name is Shamele Mackie, has been putting out cutthroat mixtapes with dense, heady rhymes since the late 1990s, and has even worked alongside superstars like 2 Chainz, Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne. Lately, Pap has been making headlines thanks to his ongoing romance with boxer and Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields, which has drawn attention from everyone, including social media comedians like Victoria “Scarface” Woods and Pap’s ex-wife, fellow rapper Remy Ma.

Since Papoose has had his name in the news lately, many fans have begun to wonder just how much money the underground rapper has saved since he first emerged on the scene. So, let’s take a moment to unpack Mackie’s net worth, examine his various revenue streams, and see what we can learn from the inner workings of the record industry at a street level.

Where Does Papoose Live?

Long before he was making waves on “Love & Hip Hop,” Papoose was born to a humble New York family. Raised in the mean streets of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, he found himself surrounded by street politics and rap culture from a young age. Luckily, the budding star was blessed to grow up in a two-parent household, which was a luxury many of his peers lacked.

During a 2023 discussion with BigBoyTV, Pap explained the impact that his parents had on his worldview, stating, “I grew up with both parents in the household as a child… I remember being real little and seeing pictures of my moms and my pops’ wedding on the wall… I was like, yo, one day I want to get married.” That inspiration explains, in part, why Mackie was able to focus on his career as a recording artist. While discussing the impact that his mother and father had on his life, Papoose concluded, “That’s why I tell people, yo, your kids’ watching. You can do what you want to do, but just know.”

Today, Papoose still resides in the New York City area, thanks to his longstanding ties to the community. Needless to say, though, he no longer lives in the same low-income housing where he grew up. The specific details of his current home are sparse, but Pap has referred to his familial abode as “a mansion” in the past, highlighting how far he’s come from his humble roots. Though he hasn’t shared many details about the house’s interior, a November 2020 Instagram post shows Papoose and his then-wife, Remy Ma, in front of their crib shortly after they bought it.

Inside Papoose’s Rap Career

Though Papoose surely has an array of investments and revenue streams at his disposal, the biggest contributing factor to his net worth comes from his career as an MC. The rapper currently touts over 107,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone, with millions of streams on multiple tracks. His biggest songs include “Underrated,” “Counting Green,” “Onslaught” and “Thought I Was Gonna Stop,” which features Lil Wayne. Long before he was dropping hot records, Papoose got his start collaborating with some the founders of NY hip hop, like Kool G Rap and DJ Kay Slay.

One of Pap’s earliest career successes came when he posted up outside the Hot 97 offices with his demo tape in hand, eager to hand off his material to DJs for radio play. As the story goes, Papoose had multiple mixtapes of material locked and loaded, and he began steadily releasing them as soon as he could get a bit of radio buzz. Unfortunately, music industry politics and behind-the-scenes issues prevented Pap from releasing his debut studio album for many years, significantly delaying his rise to fame. Luckily, the project, titled “The Nacirema Dream,” did eventually drop in 2013, to mostly positive reviews.

Since then, Papoose has released three additional studio albums, along with a veritable onslaught of mixtapes and EPs. In 2021, the “Brooklyn Way” vocalist fed his fans with a new mixtape every month, each titled after the month of their release. The endeavor was widely praised by hip hop heads and fellow lyricists, further solidifying Pap’s status as a “rapper’s rapper.”

As stated, Papoose is a proud family man with plenty of love to give to both his parents and his children. The rapper has four kids in total, including three from a previous (non-celebrity) relationship. His youngest daughter, Reminisce MacKenzie, was born in 2018 to “All The Way Up” vocalist Remy Ma.

As with many aspects of his life, Papoose usually keeps his children out of the limelight, though he has shared several photos of them on social media over the years. In 2024, for instance, the rapper took to Instagram to offer a very special birthday wish to his daughter, Destiny.

If you’ve been following along with Papoose since the “Love & Hip Hop” days, you’ve likely seen many ups and downs between the rapper and his former spouse, Remy Ma. As of this writing, the pair have not officially finalized their divorce, though they have legally separated, and have been living apart since at least mid 2024. While speaking to The Breakfast Club in late 2025, Pap explained why the split has not yet been finalized. He argued, “It’s a divorce, it’s not just something that just happens overnight… people’s lives don’t stop because of that, it’s papers, it’s time, it’s all this stuff that gotta happen. But at the end of the day, we move forward with our lives.”

Though Papoose claims to be “moving forward,” he and Remy have been quite vocal about their tumultuous split. In fact, the pair have traded barbs on numerous occasions now, both through a flurry of social media posts and on wax. Per Complex, both parties have accused the other of infidelity, and both claim that their spouse has made threats to utilize the court of public opinion to harm the other’s image. Specifically, Remy shared a series of screenshots that seem to confirm Papoose began his romance with Claressa Shields before the rappers had split. Likewise, Pap has taken to the web to disavow “the social media foolishness” and allege that Remy cheated “multiple times.” Most recently, Remy released a pair of diss records titled “W.Y.F.L.” and “Wanna Go,” which seem to touch on the situation with Pap and Shields quite candidly.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Papoose has an estimated total worth of $500,000. This money stems from his music streaming income, merch sales, live performances and television royalties. Pap also famously took home a $1.5 million advance from his 2007 deal with Jive Records, though the rapper claims that deal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. In fact, Papoose lists that deal among his all-time career regrets, having told BigBoyTV, “It was the worst mistake I ever made in my life, taking that deal. Because I was independent for so long. You gotta realize, I met [label head DJ Kay Slay] in ’04. We ain’t get a deal till ’07. We was working hard. Mixtape after mixtape after mixtape.”

Clearly, it’s not all about the money for this NY native. Instead, it seems as though Papoose is content to be a “rapper’s rapper” and to appeal mostly to the hardcore underground scene. Though he may not have a mega-viral hit or a net worth that rivals the likes of Drake and Kanye West, Pap has proven that he’s down to work hard, play hard and deliver quality music to his fans time and time again. Now that he seems to be settling down with Claressa Shields for the long run, we can likely expect to hear a refined, more mature sound from his future releases.

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