K. Gates

In New Orleans, "swagger" is that grimy, ghetto mojo, the murderous magic muscle that makes a gangsta stand upright when the weight and work of the game have doubled wimps over. It's the stunna strut, marking a G who knows what he wants and is gon' get it. It's the heart of a hustler with a knot in his pocket and right now, Gator AKA Kwame Gates' swagger is most definitely on swole. There is no question he can hustle when you hear him, this young wordsmith who can rap circles around most artists on the radio today. A pimp's slang, knockout punchlines and passion weave a tale so cinematic, any director would covet the film rights. Not to mention, his nasty ability to ride a rhythm like a baby on a bigwheel and the game stays on his tongue like Now & Later colors. If a hustler is only as good as his last hustle, Gator should be king. A quick lick ago, he was known in the hood as "Hustle Man," when two-way pagers and cell phones, throwback jerseys, watches, and anything else you wanted, but wouldn't pay full price for, were only a press of his trunk remote-key away. At age 18, too ambitious to stay local, Gator took his hustle nationwide. With the drive of a mogul and a "mouthpiece" that could talk a bent penny from a gum machine, he soon had an all-star host of clients and could easily be seen hobnobbing with the elite, partying in music videos, and chillin' at award shows. But, his high profile lifestyle by less-than-legal means came at a price. "In November '03, after pulling all kinds of white collar crimes and scandals, I got popped in New York," Gator says through his signature slippery lisp. "I was sitting in a jail cell, like, man I can't be doing this forever. Ya feel me? I gotta make a way. "I always knew I had the talent, but I never took it serious. And that moment right there, I said, man, I'm 'bout to get it with rapping. Believe dat." Gator is a man of his word. Applying the same mind and muscle he would to any other hustle, his musical exploits became things of legend. Like the time he "strong-armed" Lil Wayne's Squad 5 mixtape two days before the release date and reburned it to include three songs of his own, then sold it to the bootleggers. Or the time he made the K. Gates vs. 50 Cent mixtape, with him and the New York rapper's pictures on the cover, and managed to get it shown on camera right before the G-Unit's BET Spring Bling performance. The dude is a brilliant, mad scientist, lunatic, master gamesman. Relentless, Unstoppable. Raised, without a TV or a father, by a revolutionary mother with a Ph.D. who "decided to sacrifice her life to the community" and not for the betterment of the family's financial gain, and an underground hip-hop-head, older brother who exposed him to the music that would eventually save his life, Gator endured a constant tug-of-war raging within, between "truth, light, and love" and his "fetish for the lavish lifestyle." The outside forces usually won. The swagger ain't going nowhere no time soon. It's tattooed to his legs like a pair of Gucci socks. Regardless of what Dame Dash's ill-fated reality series showed, Gates IS the Ultimate Hustler. To the shock and awe of everyone who knows him, the uber-opportunist was ousted from the show on the 3rd episode for challenging Swizz Beats to a dice game during a recording session. It was a travesty. How could this be? Throw off, who? Not Gator Gates. This man was driving a brand new Jaguar S-type Sedan before his nineteenth birthday. Who hustles harder than him? A TV show, several N.Y. radio appearances, a potential movie, and 5 mixtapes later, BET will undoubtedly grace his face again. His upcoming album, "New Orleans' Savior," virtually guarantees it. Gates loves the city that made him and he shows that love at every chance he gets. And the city shows love back. His whole album expresses, in a variety of ways, his desire to "save" New Orleans. Laid on a plate of music by Mannie Fresh, Jazze Pha, and Dani Kartel (the producer for Juvenile and Soulja Slim's "Slow Motion"), Gator's street-life monologues might lift the city up onto dry land. His motto, "Have a million dollar day," the creed he lives by, is baller Bible verse, in a world where lesser hustlers die, trying. It dares his niggaz to realize their dreams, to hustle hard, now, and come with laughter, after. It paints a blueprint for a new New Orleans, where shaking haters is done to a soundtrack. And the "swagger" is an I.D. and Gator's "hustle" has made him mayor cuz that's the way it ought to be.