After that night, doors opened in small ways. A local zine asked him to write about neighborhood music. A coffee shop offered him a part-time shift. He found a job unloading trucks at dawn and trading shifts with coworkers so he could take classes at night. The scholarship office, nudged by a counselor who liked his zine piece, reopened his file. His mother called one morning raw with apology and exhaustion, and they argued until they cried; that argument, messy and human, ended with plans to meet.

"The Score" received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. The album was praised for its innovative production, lyrical depth, and genre-bending sound. The album's success was not limited to critical circles; it also achieved significant commercial success, selling over 6 million copies in the United States and over 11 million copies worldwide.

One evening, a girl at the counter noticed the disc on Marcus’s lap. She had paint under her fingernails and a name tag that read "Nia." She asked him if he knew where the album came from. He shrugged. “Dumpster vintage,” he said; the truth didn’t need glamour.

It has sold over 22 million copies worldwide and was briefly the best-selling hip-hop album of all time.