The Game Don’t Change

At the start of this paean to hip-hop life in Queens from Fox, the pseudonym of the rapper Jamal Green (1971–2014), 16-year-old DeMarco Jones escapes from a New York juvenile detention facility, aided by guard Mrs. B, an older woman with whom he has an affair. Back home in Queens, DeMarco hooks into the drug trade with his cousin Steph and is surprised how quickly and easily his money grows. Meanwhile, he performs sexual gymnastics with a variety of girls singly, doubly, and triply. As free with his money and drugs as he is with his sexual favors, DeMarco becomes immensely popular as he engages in an endless round of partying. He must also fend off competitors trying to horn in on his territory. DeMarco’s rise is meteoric, and his fall as fast and inevitable, in this tragic tale filled with street talk (“Just ’cause you from the city, that don’t mean shit to me”). (Nov.)