Paps started his musical education with the Gambia Police band as a trombone player and later a drum major playing the Bass drum, the tambour. One day, he left his work at the Police Barracks in Bakau to attend the Gambia Workers Union strike for salary increase and he was spotted singing “We-shall-not-be-moved”. The next day he was dismissed from the Police Force. Later that week, he went to Dobson Street in Banjul to join the African Jazz under the entrepreneurship and direction of the late Alhagi Chamsu Coker and Late photographer Uncle Malick Secka. Later him and the Congolese named Sammy Ndame and Merciline together with Solomon Cole, a schoolteacher and former musician started what later became THE EAGLES BAND. Paps was a renowned sportsman, a fabulous athlete. He was the national football goalkeeper, White Phantoms football FC and the Gambia football team in the 70’s. He was a sprinter and he tried the javelin and discusses throwing. He was a youth leader and a champion of workers and women’s rights. He loved children so much and composed the Youth Song for children of the Gambia. Some say that he used to sing while goal keeping and sometimes he would forget the game and meditating on his song until the ball would hit the net as a goal before he realized that it was a football game and not a music stage. This happened in a match with Liberian. The Liberian captain with the name of Mass Sarr (Spark), he was a striker, a Gambian by birth but naturalized in Liberia by public demand in Liberia. He did not want to score against the Gambia. He kicked a slow rolling ball but Paps did not see the ball, he was singing in the goal until the ball assed him. The Gambia lost 6-0 to Liberia at the Box Bar Stadium.