Much hyped New York mix-tape rapper Papoose has signed a 1.5 million dollar with Jive records. The amount of albums Papoose owes Jive in the deal was not disclosed. Despite the large 1.5 million cash number, this was a not a smart deal for Papoose. Jive’s specialty over the past 10 years has been pop acts. (In the late 80s Jive actually had a lot of successful hip hop acts). The Clipse have been trying to get off Jive for years and have been in limbo and their much anticipated sophomore album may never see the light of day. Mobb Deep was on Jive before signing to G-Unit and flopped with their Jive release. (To be fair to Jive, Mobb Deep also recently flopped with their G-Unit Release). The 2 most logical homes for Papoose would be Def Jam or Bad Boy. Both labels have had good years so far, but nearly all their hits have come from southern artists like Yung Joc and Rick Ross or RNB artists like Rhianna, Cassie, and Danity Kane. So despite good sales, both of those labels are lacking a new New York rapper. On the other hand, the money Def Jam and Bad Boy offered Papoose was probably not as high as Jive and there would be a certain amount of added pressure on Papoose signing to either of those labels. In the end, I think the best label for Papoose would have been Atlantic. They have had a pretty good run of late with hip hop acts with TI being the latest success.