Somehow, some way, Papoose always remains in the thick of the conversation in hip-hop. Whether it's jumping on stage unexpectedly at Summer Jam, firing lyrical jabs aimed at Kendrick Lamar, defending his city against Trinidad Jame$' comments about the South running hip-hop or his wife and former Terror Squad MC Remy Ma finally getting out of jail after six years, Pap is always around, watching and waiting to make his next move. That latest move arrived six days ago, when Papoose released his sophomore album, You Can't Stop Destiny, via Honorable Records.

YCSD is a whirlwind of an album, with Papoose letting loose lyrically with some of the toughest and quickest bars of his career. Relative rap newcomers Ty Dolla $ign and Troy Ave stop through to lend a hand on the project as well as consistent collaborators Maino, Red Cafe, AG and, of course, the resplendent Remy Ma, while the likes of DJ Premier, Havoc from Mobb Deep, Showbiz and Ron Browz man the production behind the boards. But that's not the only news Papoose has this month; it was also recently announced that Remy and Pap would be joining the upcoming new season of Love & Hip-Hop, marking their first joint foray into the television world.

With You Can't Stop Destiny finally on shelves and as the one-year anniversary of Remy Ma's release from prison on the way July 31, XXL spoke to Pap about the album, his relationship with Remy and why now is the right time to step out into reality TV for the first time. —Dan Rys

XXL: How did you come up with the title for You Can't Stop Destiny?
Papoose: Basically, it's inspired off how, you know, anybody who might have goals that they want to accomplish in life or you might have situations that you want to get out of, and the title of the album is You Can't Stop Destiny because regardless of whatever, it's destiny. If it's gonna happen, nobody can stop it, it's gonna happen.

Did you have a vision of what you wanted to create with this album before you started making it?
Yeah, always, I always got a vision before I create anything lyrically. I just wanted to inspire people with my ambition and everything you hear on the project, and my dedication and let them know that you can't stop destiny. Everybody knows that I've been through a lot, I know what I've done. I've always gone through those different situations and I'm still here, still moving forward, still working, still growing. I can inspire people that there's destiny and that if God says you're destined to be somebody, then that's what you're gonna be, no matter what.

You've got guys like DJ Premier, Havoc and Ron Browz supporting this album with production.
Oh yeah, it's really important to have somebody like Premier on the album, he's a legend, I've always wanted to work with him since I was a kid, you know what I'm saying? I wouldn't have finished my project without at least having a track from him. Same with Ron Browz, we've always made good records together. Actually, the record we got right now, "Michael Jackson," is doing real good at radio in a lot of different cities.

I wanted to ask you about that record "Michael Jackson." How important was it for you to have Remy on the album?
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's really important for us to put a record together and, you know, we only do it when it's a good vibe, when the vibe is right. And so far it's been working, the chemistry goes real good together and it always feels like it comes together in a positive way. We just kick the vibe. As long as the vibe is there we'll kick the record. But it's really important to have her on there, you know, I really respect her as an artist.

July 31st will be a year since she's been out of jail. How's that been for you guys?
It's been good, real good, you know what I'm saying? We've been taking our time, taking it one day at a time and she's just adapting to getting back to being in society, you know what I mean. She'd been behind that wall for a long time, and we're just taking it one day at a time. We're not rushing into anything, as y'all can see, and so far everything's been going good.

On a song like "The Bank" off the album, it seems like you're rapping harder than ever.
I always try to stay on my A game. You know, when I was younger I used to rap real fast when I first started rapping as a kid; people always used to tell me to slow down. Over the years I slowed it down, but honestly, when you listen to "The Bank," I kind of went back to the essence of how it was when I first started.

It must feel good to let loose like that every once in a while.
Yeah, definitely. Which is good, because now-a-days, when dudes are rapping faster they don't be saying shit. I'm rapping fast, but if you listen to me, I got a lot of content there.

What is success for you with this album?
I mean, it's already a success for me. As long as I'm able to get it out to the people, as long as my core audience is satisfied, I'm good, man. I'm great. Just to be able to get it out there, a lot of people don't even have the opportunity to do that. To want to be heard and not be able to be heard, I know what that's like. To have a voice out there and for people to even care, even for you to want to do this interview with me, that's a success where I come from.

Do you feel like you have anything to prove?
No. Honestly not. I think people already know what it is. But there's a lot of people in the world who don't know. You always want to reach new people and increase your audiences. That's always been my goal, to reach the population of the world with my ideas, my concepts. What I look at in different situations.

When Remy first got out of jail, the two of you said that you weren't going to do any reality TV. Why did you decide to go on Love & Hip-Hop now?
I mean, like I said, when she first got out we had a lot of opportunities; they actually asked me to do it when she was locked up, they wanted to film up to the minute that she came home. But I just declined on it, you know. We took it into consideration, but we wanted to live with ourselves. And we did that. We wanted it to happen in its own way, in a good way, and that's what happened.

What are you most looking forward to with being on the show?
At the end of the day, it's television. You're going on the screen, people see you from a different standpoint. People don't really see you being recorded, being filmed, you're aware of that. We're gonna show the world by being ourselves. No one's gonna be fake or phony, we're just gonna show who were are. Black love.

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