Ever the lightning rod for controversy, Soulja Boy made headlines in January when he appeared on the Breakfast Club to argue that he is one of the most influential figures of the 2000s in rap. He might be right, but during the interview, a tirade about his influence on Drake turned into a defense of Soulja Boy’s seemingly derivative nickname, “Draco.” Though Soulja claims the alias is derived from his given name, DeAndre Cortez Way, the name resonates more for its association with an in vogue pistol, than the Toronto rap star.

The Draco is a gun in the midst of a spike in popularity. It’s a baby AK-47 that has become frequently namechecked in rap in only a few years. From Vince Staples and 21 Savage to Gucci Mane and Yo Gotti, references to the firearm have been popping up all over, and the weapon is becoming inescapable. Sada Baby has rapped that he’ll “do a Harlem Shake” with one. References to the pistol appear on his recent mixtape, Bartier Bounty, more than a dozen times across 10 songs.

“I think people just like Dracos because they like the name,” says rapper and producer Quelle Chris, whose upcoming album, Guns, ponders our society’s obsession with firearms. “It rolls off the tongue like Hennessy.” Dracos aren’t weapons of necessity; they’re weapons of spectacle. “Don’t nobody necessarily need an automatic weapon,” he adds. Dracos have become placeholder objects in rap lyrics and thus a self-perpetuating phenomenon. “Rather than say any other particular type of gun, you say Draco,” Quelle Chris says. “And now you need Dracos in your video because you can’t be talking about Dracos and not have Dracos. Or you went and got a Draco because you heard a song that had a Draco in the video; now you gotta put your Draco in your song.” Thus begins a cycle.

The Draco is a semi-automatic pistol made by Romanian manufacturer Cugir and imported to the States by firearm manufacturer Century Arms, which began producing the gun itself in 2017. It looks like a little assault rifle without the stock and a much shorter barrel. There are mini Dracos, micro Dracos, and the Draco NAK9, all with the AK’s signature banana clip. A gun of limited accuracy, it is not a range or hunting weapon; instead it is designed for close-quarters use. Yet, the demand for them in the U.S. is growing.

This increase in popularity is, at least in part, the result of rap’s current fascination with the gun. Gunsamerica, an online firearm retailer and gun blog, made a direct correlation between sales of the pistol and the gun’s appearances in rap songs in 2016 and 2017.