The day the cops take his daddy away for murder, a new emotion grips 5-year-old Daquan Watson's heart. Hate. It stays with him coming up in the Calliope - New Orleans' most notorious, drug-ridden housing project - where every brother is a soldier going to war every day. And when he hears his first blast of hip hop, he finds a voice for that hate - a voice that takes him to a new future with a huge rap label. But what about his fellow soldiers in the hood? Daquan knows his hardened heart will never let him be a victim. He can only pray it won't turn him into a predator.