Ransom - American Hustle

"I wasn't raised by IG, I was raised by the OG's."

Album: Director's Cut Scene 3
Genre: Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Gangster Rap
Album Release: August 14th 2020
Length: 3.59
Producer: Nicholas Craven
Vocalist: Ransom [age 40] & Rome Streetz
Label: Momentum Entertainment

Official Audio

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: Over 150 thousand
YouTube Music: Over 25 thousand

Credits

Details

In 2008, Ransom released his first album Street Cinema, when he was in his late twenties. It was a gangster rap record full of drug dealing bars like 'a brick is 5 bars a, bundle is 10 bags' and on the track 'Grind & Hustle' he proclaimed 'I'm a young hustler, I won't stop till I'm a mean old man.' In 2020, continuing the theme, he released 'American Hustle', only something had changed.

There are a lot of rappers who play up the street life to get sales but Ransom has arrests for dealing and spent time in foster care so his street 'credentials' seem to be legitimate. However, it would take more than that for him to make it in music. His first three albums didn't sell and his 2017 release did better but failed to have a major impact. Ransom's breakthrough came at the grand old age of 40, with his three part 'Directors Cut' series, providing underground fans a feast of raw, authentic gangster rap that was decades in the making.

The mix of street and cinema was still there, Ransom dresses as Freddy Krueger and Candyman for the album art, but the music wasn't about glorifying thug life, it was about the pain and the scars that come from it. The rapper dressed himself as the monster because he knows the life outside is full of bad shit, saying 'I did this shit cos I had to, not cos I wanted to' on the introduction to 'American Hustle'.

The Director's Cut series has the bravado of a younger man but it's tempered with a wisdom that comes from experience. It's looking back instead of looking forward and this change in perspective makes all the difference. It's a story told by someone who's been there, done that, and has the bruises to prove it. Ransom did what he had to do to get paid but the hustle came at a cost that can never truly be paid back. It's tragic, and hopefully, through Ransom recouting his tales, young lads can learn to not make the same mistakes he did.

Artwork