Lil Baby Details the Grueling Cycle of Hustle Culture in New ‘Untrapped’ Documentary Teaser
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Despite racism being a systemic issue embedded into every part of American society — from laws and regulations to housing and employment — the task of breaking free from the cycle of poverty inherently perpetuated by systemic racism is pushed off to the marginalized, often Black communities most impacted by it. In the latest trailer for his forthcoming Amazon Prime Video documentary Untrapped, Lil Baby details the grueling pattern of hustle culture that has repackaged and glorified the concept of struggling.
“It’s a cycle,” the rapper says in a voice-over. “You go to jail, you get out, but you keep hustling because you don’t know nothing else.” During the clip, young kids on their way home from school in Atlanta use their imagination to make the most of the few resources available. Then, some of the young adults are seen holding stacks and stacks of money.
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“It’s like a jungle out there in these streets,” Quality Control Music CEO Pierre ‘P’ Thomas says in the video. “When I was coming up, when you come out your door, the person that you see with a nice car is a drug dealer.” He adds that growing up poor and unable to take vacations or see more of the world limits your scope to the perimeters of your community, saying: “If the only people you see that have money or nice things is the drug dealers, it’s just natural that that’s what you’re going to look up to.”
For a moment, Lil Baby imagines how his life would have played out had he not been forced to hustle for money to help his family, helmed by a single mother. “A lot of times, she couldn’t afford to pay our rent, so we got evicted,” he explained, recalling having to constantly struggle to make ends meet. “If I wasn’t stressing money, I’d probably be in college and had got a great job type of shit. But it’s like, money’s the root of all evil.”
Lil Baby turned to music after spending time in prison, hoping to break the cycle he realized wasn’t normal — or sustainable. In a previous trailer, the rapper recounted his realization: “After I got locked up again, my perspective changed. America has a system in place, and it’s designed for us to fail. It’s a trap. I couldn’t go back to prison. I became an artist with something to say and people to stand for.”
Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, set to arrive Aug. 26 on Amazon Prime Video.
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