Pap Chanel Is One Of The Most Authentic Women In Rap

Samantha Colleran, November 2021

Pap Chanel, courtesy of Universal Music Group

If you’re looking for a new female rapper to put on your playlists, Pap Chanel is your girl! Standing for Pretty and Paid, Pap Chanel has been freestyling since high school and has been working to boost the confidence of her female peers since middle school. Hailing from a small town in Georgia, Pap Chanel is a country girl through and through, and has worked to make her hobby of freestyling into a lifelong career (and has been incredibly successful at doing so) all while remaining authentically herself. In a press conference with º1824, Pap Chanel openly discussed how she started her career, gave advice to women in the music industry, and talked about some of her biggest inspirations and career achievements!

As an artist in a male dominated sector of the music industry, Pap Chanel has always had a slightly harder time getting her voice heard. Pap expressed that the best way to have your voice heard is to set yourself apart by staying true to who you are. She was such a strong advocate for uniqueness and sticking to your own path, it was super inspiring, especially for women looking to delve into the music industry! 

Citing Nicki Minaj as her biggest inspiration, Pap Chanel spoke on how Nicki taught her to embrace her ‘inner queen’ and how important it is that Nicki is unafraid to speak her mind and challenge her male counterparts within the rap world. It’s also important to note that Pap Chanel doesn’t sing about the typical things female rappers will rap about, she writes about her own personal experiences and stated that music is her diary where she feels like she can be the most honest about things going on in her life. 

Pap Chanel’s alter ego, Papillon, photographed by Maria Gracia

One thing that sets Pap apart from other women in rap is her six alter egos, or as she so proudly calls them, her “paponalities”. These different personalities come out through her music, and she loves challenging her fans into figuring out which paponality inspired each of her songs. Papiana is a fan favorite; she’s bold and confident and unafraid to be “the elephant in the room”. The remaining five are also super interesting; Papatouillie is our go-getter who is always cooking something up and is Pap’s “scientist” side; Papi is inspired by Nicki Minaj, she’s a ruler who is birthing a new wave of rap; Paprika is the spicier side of Pap Chanel, she’s an instigator who stirs the pot; Papillon is our softer ego who isn’t afraid to express her really emotional feelings; and finally, Tupap, our intellectual who unapologetically speaks on topics that may be hard for others to come to terms with. All of these are uniquely Pap, and it was really cool getting to know a little bit more about each of these paponalities!

As an artist with a lot of success, Pap remains super humble in her experiences. When speaking about some of her biggest features, Pap is still a true fan at heart and spoke super highly of everyone she has collaborated with, and cites her Future collab as one of the biggest achievements of her career since she was listening to him before he was famous. She’s also incredibly open to collaborating with anyone, stating that working with new people can bring out creative sides of herself she never would have thought to uncover. 

Pap Chanel as Tupap, photographed by Maria Gracia

Pap started off her career like any new artist does, with a very small following, and a lot of hard work being put into her craft in order to get noticed. As someone who has built a really solid career, she offered some great advice for those just starting out. She said that being your own biggest fan and advocate is the most important thing to get your work noticed; if you can advocate for your own work, you’ll find your niche and the people who feel they can relate to your work. Once again, she put a lot of emphasis on being yourself, a very positive and common theme that ran through the press conference. 

So, what’s in store for the future of Pap Chanel? We live in a world where everything changes so rapidly, but Pap wants to stay as consistent as possible and not change herself or her art style for anyone. She also strives to be the best at what she does, anything she puts her mind to she wants to be the best she can. A hustler and incredibly hard worker, you’ll definitely be seeing more of Pap Chanel in the future, and I can’t wait to see what else she’s been working on!

You can follow Pap Chanel on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter to stay up to date on all of her future releases! Be sure to stream her work on Apple Music, Spotify, or any other preferred streaming services, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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