"This is a cage, they call it a trap/And this is how we're gonna put our footprints on the map." Marc DeCoca's latest single, the Ralph French-produced "We Hustle For Money," comes from his recent project The Beautiful Images of Atlantis Omega, and it's an easy standout. DeCoca has been working along the margins of Southern hip-hop for a long time, scoring a few regional hits (like 2006's "J's At My Door") and getting momentary Up North hipster love before returning to the Atlanta underground, where he's remained for the bulk of the decade.
"We Hustle For Money," at first glance, doesn't feel different from a multitude of rap songs about hustling, drug sales, etc. (See also: last week's "Fuck a Plan B.") But the constraints of familiar subject matter (down to a cinematic tribute—in this case, New Jack City) allow for more subtle performative and writerly choices to make the work stand out. In this case, the single-minded focus and deliberate pace take the listener into the room. Rather than empty bragging or the rote performance of cliche, DeCoca's bars immerse the viewer: When he shouts "The pack is in!" it conveys a place, a time, a setting: this isn't a shout of raw emotion, but of necessity, of deadening labor, particularly as the unsettling, repeated piano loop imparts a claustrophobic sensation.
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