Daniel “Impulss” Perez knows a thing or two about the hustle. He knows what it’s like to be on the brink of a big deal one minute only to be back at square one the next. But since being hung out to dry by Def Jam a few years back, Impulss has decided to get his hustle on, returning to his New Orleans roots and reigniting its resurgent, underground scene. On his latest effort, Marie Laveaux’s Hustle, Pulss is back at it, pounding the mic as he pledges his allegiance to the Crescent City.

On the track “We Love the N.O.,” Impulss reveals his MO: “I’m James Booker’s fingers / I’m Marie Laveaux’s hustle,” an homage to two of the Crescent City’s most memorable and mystifying figures and a metaphor that insinuates that making it in the Big Easy is often a struggle against slipping through the cracks.

On the mic, Pulss’ warped rhymes and wicked insights blend the persona of another New Orleans icon, Dr. John, with the witty, rapid-fire wordplay of a socially conscious Eminem. He uses a scratchy sample of the Doctor’s ode to the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans to set the album’s tone as he spews profusely over the stinging funk of the opener, “Restless Leg Syndrome.” One of the few emcees on the scene with a flow prolific and profound enough not to play himself out over the course of an album, Impulss keeps his collaborators to a minimum, picks them wisely, and packs 16 deep cuts into Marie Laveaux’s Hustle, 10 of which he produced himself. Alt-rap icon Prince Po lays it down on “Do It!,” Curren$y conspirator Nesby Phips kicks it on “Fly Talk,” and underground guerilla ElEsPee lends his lackadaisical flow to “Photo I.D.,” a track that also features Impulss’ wife, Rita LaGrange, on vocals. The album’s best moment comes through on “Tumblin’ Down,” where Pulss resurrects the hook from a previous Akon collab as he sizes up New Orleans’ social climate. To close things out, he brings in Bronx producer Bazooka Joe to remix “Do It!” Once again, Impulss lets everyone know exactly why he plays the game: “For the love and the passion.”