Album Review: Treali Duce – A Man’s Heart

Treali Duce ft. Cuzzin Ice Lecta “I Get Money”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Treali Duce ft. C-Hecc, Mackvillin “Rollercoaster”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I frequently hear the claim, from both hip-hop heads and outsiders, that gangsta rap all sounds the same. And on the surface, that’s true. Much of gangsta rap deals with essentially the same themes of violence and crime. But good gangsta rap, like good gangster film or television, goes much deeper than that, often revealing complex truth in numerous shades of grey.

Or shades of blue, in the case of Treali Duce. Treali follows in a line of blues-inflected gangsta rap that you find more common in the South amongst artists like UGK, Z-Ro, and Lil Boosie. Which isn’t to say that A Man’s Heart is all twanging guitars and harmonica riffs. But an undercurrent of palpable sadness runs through the album. Treali’s strength is pain, struggle, and ultimately, empathy.

Take the first song of the album, “I Get Money.” The title suggests a song full of ballerisms and material excess, all braggadocio about wealth. Instead, Treali sets the tone for the album by explaining his and his community’s attraction to criminal hustling, breaking down this societal trap of valuing wealth yet making it near impossible for black Americans to make a livable income by legal means. The hook “I get money, you get money, we get money, let’s all get money” is a lament of this eternal rat race we’re stuck in. Treali himself sees money as “the root of all wickedry [sic]” but sees no way out of this struggle.

This use of elevated Biblical language is a recurring motif through A Man’s Heart, pointing to the Christian spiritual element in Treali’s music. That’s most apparent on “Good Lookin,” a prayer to God, thanking Him for guidance while also asking for repentance. But he also incorporates this Christian morality more subtly in other songs. “Wake Up And Get Your Paper Up” reveals Treali’s hope to one day “see providence” after so much hustling. On “Rollercoaster,” he cries for those that “reach the mountaintop, then they fall in sin.” Treali clearly sees himself as a righteous man, creating this intensely sympathetic, relatable, complex character, a sane man in an insane world.

A Man’s Heart then isn’t just Treali’s feelings. It’s the thoughts and emotions that we all feel, this clash between what’s right in society and what’s right in our hearts. It’s both a cry of sorrow and a push to persevere. It’s a wonder to me how anyone can discredit gangsta rap when it breeds music this powerful.