The Heart of the City’s Podcast

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — They Run The Block "Let Drip Tell It"

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — They Run The Block "Let Drip Tell It"
Everybody in the Bronx knows the legend of Crackmatic and Drip Gualla — the rapper with a voice like prophecy and the enforcer who backs every word with force. But the streets only know the headlines.This time, the truth comes straight from the source.
Drip Gualla steps up to tell the real story — raw, unfiltered, and straight from the block where he and Crackmatic grew up. Before SGS ran corners, before the fame and the fear, before the labels came begging, there were two kids watching each other’s backs in a world that didn’t expect them to survive.
Drip reveals how the music, the hustle, and the loyalty built SGS from nothing… and how he and Matic turned the Bronx into their empire.No rumors.No exaggerations.Just the truth as only Drip can tell it — street logic, pain, ambition, and the kind of loyalty you can’t fake.
Let Drip Tell It is more than a story — it’s the heartbeat of the block.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Crackmatic and Drip Gualla "They Run The Block"

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Crackmatic & Drip Gualla: They Run The Block
Crackmatic and Drip Gualla aren’t just two kids from the Bronx — they’re the storm that changed it.One is the hottest unsigned rapper in New York City, a lyrical powerhouse whose verses double as street codes. The other is his ruthless right hand, an enforcer who built their empire one corner at a time. Together, they formed SGS — Shiesty Goon Squad, a crew that turned music and the drug game into a one-two punch that the borough couldn’t ignore.
Crackmatic’s bars built the momentum.Drip’s muscle protected the vision.And the Bronx crowned them long before any record label could.
From childhood brothers to block rulers, their rise wasn’t luck — it was destiny forged in stairwells, streetlights, and survival. But with power comes enemies, and every move they make echoes through the streets and the industry alike.
They Run The Block isn’t just a title.It’s a warning.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Antonio "Bullet" Moretti "He's Not The One"

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Antonio “Bullet” Moretti: He’s Not The One
Antonio “Bullet” Moretti grew up between two worlds—Black and Italian, accepted by neither, shaped by both. Forged in isolation and raised on survival, he learned early that precision hits harder than anger. The streets gave him a nickname. Malcolm James gave him a purpose.
Bullet became Malcolm’s enforcer, protector, and quiet storm—the man who didn’t speak unless it mattered and didn’t strike unless it counted. His reputation rose with Malcolm’s empire, feared across Brooklyn for discipline, loyalty, and violence executed with surgical calm.
But when Malcolm fell, Bullet didn’t retreat.He hardened.
Now, with nothing to lose and everything to avenge, Bullet Moretti stands as the last shield of the James legacy—calm, loyal, and deadly.
They say don’t cross him.They say don’t test him.They say he’s not the one.
They’re right.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — McDuffy and Stone The "By The Book Guys"

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Detectives McDuffy & Stone: The “By The Book Guys”
Detectives Ethan McDuffy and Caleb Stone pride themselves on one thing: following the rulebook like it’s scripture.Not the smartest men in the precinct, but the most rigid, they move in perfect lockstep—mirrored desks, mirrored habits, mirrored scowls. Together they’ve earned a reputation as the “By The Book Guys,” two officers who never improvise, never bend protocol, and never forgive anyone who does.
And no one tests their patience more than Detectives Mike James and Luis “Pretty Lou” Martinez—everything McDuffy and Stone resent in a pair of detectives. Flashy. Instinct-driven. Too successful. Too admired. Too lucky with the women. To them, James and Martinez are just “Miami Vice wannabes” who solve cases without respecting the rules the world is built on.
Their jealousy deepens into obsession, pushing McDuffy and Stone into an open alliance with Internal Affairs, where they eagerly feed every complaint, every infraction, every rumor. And their hatred doesn’t stop at the detectives—they despise Runtell, the “dirty C.I.” whose connection to James and Martinez only widens the gap between the rule followers and the rule breakers.
The “By The Book Guys.”Two detectives convinced they’re protecting the precinct…even if it means taking down its best cops to do it.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Jody Ann Watson "Queenie Glam" The Beauty and The Badge

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Jody Ann Watson “Queenie Glam" The Beauty and The Badge.
Jody Ann “Queenie Glam” Watson lives two lives—one in diamonds and designer gowns, the other in shadows and classified files.Raised across embassies as the daughter of a U.S. diplomat–spy and a former Miss Dominican Republic, Queenie was destined for the FBI… until she went so deep undercover she no longer remembers where the assignment ends and her real self begins.
Embedded in Vargas’s cartel as a glamorous art dealer, Queenie gets too close to the wrong people: Nikki Garcia, Malcolm James—and one night she can’t forget, Detective Mike James.Now she’s juggling secrets, guilt, and a mission threatening to swallow her whole.
The Beauty and The BadgeIn a world built on lies, Queenie Glam is running out of truths to hold onto.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Nicole 'Nikki' Garcia "Queen of Smoke"

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Nicole “Nikki” Garcia: Queen of Smoke
Nicole “Nikki” Garcia was born into a Colombian cartel but raised to outthink it.Using Vargas to fuel her vision, she partnered with Malcolm James to flood Queens with product and quietly build her own empire.When Queenie Glam infiltrated her world on a covert mission, the two women formed a powerful, sister-like bond—until an explosion shattered everything.
Presumed dead, Nikki vanished… but sightings in Miami hint she’s alive, rebuilding, and planning her return.And when she comes back, she’s not just reclaiming her throne—she’s taking the whole city with her.
Queen of Smoke.The one who rose from fire.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Detective Luis Martinez "The Pretty One"

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Luis “Pretty Lou” Martinez: The Pretty One
He’s the detective with the style of a movie star and the instincts of a street hustler.Luis “Pretty Lou” Martinez talks smooth, dresses sharp, and solves cases with charm instead of force.Partnered with Detective Mike James, Lou’s charisma makes him a legend on the streets — and trouble off the clock.
But behind the designer suits and easy smile lies a man walking the thin line between duty, temptation, and desire.Because even the prettiest face in the city has secrets it can’t hide forever.
The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Detective Luis Martinez: The Pretty One.Every charm has a cost.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — RunTell “Tings A Gwaan”

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — RunTell “Tings A Gwaan”
Every city has a man who knows everything — and in this one, his name is RunTell.No gun. No badge. Just dreadlocks, dark shades, and an ear to every street corner.
In Tings A Gwaan, we uncover how a quiet hustler from Spanish Town became Brooklyn’s most connected man — the whisper between cops and kingpins.From Kingston dancehalls to Flatbush backrooms, RunTell moves through the city like a ghost, trading secrets instead of bullets.When he crosses paths with Detective Mike James, Pretty Lou Martinez, and Malcolm James, he becomes the thread that ties every side of the city together.
Because when RunTell says “Tings a gwaan,” trust him — something’s already happening.
The Heart of the City: Back Stories — RunTell “Tings A Gwaan.”He hears it all… and tells just enough.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Mike James “The Good Guy”

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Mike James “The Good Guy”
Before he was a detective… before the badge defined him… Mike James was just a kid trying to live up to his father’s shadow.
In The Good Guy, we follow the rise of a man who believes integrity still matters — even in a city built on compromise. Raised by a cop and standing opposite his hustler twin, Malcolm, Mike carries the James legacy into law enforcement with purpose, charm, and a weakness for the women who call him “LL Big Mike” — Ladies Love Big Mike.
Partnered with the stylish and smooth-talking Luis “Pretty Lou” Martinez, Mike learns that being a good man in a dirty city means walking a line that gets thinner every day.
Duty. Loyalty. Temptation.For Mike James, doing the right thing isn’t about staying clean — it’s about surviving with your soul intact.
The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Mike James “The Good Guy.”Every good man has a story… and a price.

The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Malcolm James “Bloodlines”

Before the empire. Before the badge. Before the war between brothers — there was blood.
Bloodlines dives into the origins of Malcolm James, the man who turned family legacy into an empire.Raised between two worlds — a father in blue and a grandfather in the streets — Malcolm learned early that power comes with a price. While his twin brother Mike followed their father’s path into law enforcement, Malcolm chased the shadow of a legend named Big Lou James… and found his destiny in the cracks of the same city they both called home.
This is where loyalty meets ambition, and where the line between right and wrong disappears entirely.
The Heart of the City: Back Stories — Malcolm James “Bloodlines”Every empire has a beginning.