Started from the bottom, now he’s here. August Alsina gets back on his grind with his new single “Hip-Hop.” On the soulful street anthem, which samples Naughty by Nature’s ’90s classic “Hip Hop Hooray,” he reminisces on the past (“Only four years old when Biggie got shot”) and looks to better days ahead.

“I pray for more better days / I know that I can feel change,” he sings.

August is in the studio working on the follow-up to his 2014 debut Testimony.