Tommy Brown (DMX) and Sincere (Nas) came up together on the wild streets of Queens. Childhood friends, they got rich early doing dirt and breaking all laws. By the time they were teenagers the two were already holding heat, cooling in lavish condos with high-tech amenities, and pushing expensive cars. True partners, they had each other's back to the end, holding it down for one another.

On the cusp of young adulthood Tommy and Sincere are shooting their way up the ranks of organized crime. More than ever now their fates are interlocked. Yet slowly the two are beginning to come to terms with the fact that they aspire for completely different lifestyles. Suddenly their trust and loyalty are challenged. A once genuine relationship is starting to rip at the seams. And who knows what will fall out.

To many in his neighborhood. 17-year old Tommy is the Ghetto president, a charismatic thug who is everything they aspire to become. Consumed by wealth and power, Tommy is dialed into everything contemporary and dangerous. Tommy is also a womanizer prone to go behind his girlfriend Kisha's (Taral Hicks) back with other girls. He is arrogant, very confused and more than a bit reckless.

In stark contrast to Tommy, Sincere is a refined intellectual who between scores occasionally likes to read, or reach out to young shorties to let them know all that glitters ain't gold. Tough but not wild, he's a man who's got everything. Nevertheless. Sincere slowly learns his real treasure is his family. At home his wife. Tionne (T-Boz), wants him to settle down and get a legal 9 to 5 so they can grow old together with their newborn baby girl Kenya. Tionne knows running with Tommy will only mean two things for Sincere; jail time or, worse, a chalk line.

Just hours after a major heist and a furious shootout in which he and his crew made off with nylon sacks filled with cash from a popular Manhattan nightspot, Tommy's shower is interrupted by an alarming report - the discovery of a new drug additive. At the moment the additive, which when mixed with ordinary street dope dramatically enhances the potency level is burning up Europe's underground club scene. Grabbing the keys to his new Benz coupe, Tommy slides over to Sincere's crib to feed him the latest recipe on getting rich.

With the help of his street mentor Lennox (Louie Rankin) who can get his hands on the additive, and his boy Knowledge, who has a few soldiers they can put to work out in Omaha, Tommy thinks he and Sincere can get paid running a major interstate dope ring.

But as business takes off in Omaha, Sincere begins to reevaluate his commitments. Prodded by Tionne and the Elijah Mohammed's book "Message to the Black Man," Sincere finds himself wondering about his purpose on earth. Knowing that life has something more meaningful in store for him and his family, he begins to distance himself from Tommy. But to Tommy, there's nothing to think about. Life's a hustle, get money, get power, get buried. Period.

Illegal business partners now at odds, their friendship is put to the test when Big (Tyrin Turner), Omaha's player-hating neighborhood drug kingpin, rats them out to local law enforcement who then move in on Tommy and Sincere's crew.

Uninformed, Tommy and Lennox return from Jamaica where they ambushed Sosa, the sole supplier of designer drugs to New York, only to find U.S. Marshals have taken Tommy's girl Kisha into custody for questioning. The operation is fading.

With the Feds looking to give him a coming home party and all his money stuck on streets, Tommy races to Sincere's home in Queens, Panicking, he becomes suspicious of everyone, including Sincere who seems a bit too calm for Tommy knowing that the feds are after him. To make matters worse, Shameek (Method Man), who is locked down due to Tommy's inability to bail him out, is looking for revenge.

Momentarily putting his suspicion of Sincere on hold, Tommy bounces to Atlanta where he narrowly escapes after his plans to start over are shattered by a couple of knucklehead proteges who take their test of manhood too far. Shooting hoops while attempting to sort things out back in New York. Tommy is then caught off guard by a Fed, Roger (Frank Vincent), who propositions him to take part in one of the government's most unscrupulous affairs in order to save his own skin.

The next time Tommy and Sincere meet, hidden tensions are unleashed and Sincere knows that power is not attained through money, violence or sex but through companionship and family.