Fans of “Insecure” actress and co-creator Issa Rae long have known that she has an affinity for rap music and has found ways to weave the love of ratchet lyrics into her hit shows.
But what may surprise fans is that her next show, “Rap Sh*t,” is more than the manifestation of her love of all things rap, but also a concept that was sparked by comments Jermaine Dupri made in 2019.
The popular music producer caught flak two years ago when he was unable to choose a favorite female rapper because he felt they were mostly strippers who happen to rap.
“I can’t give you a favorite because I feel like they’re all talking about the same thing. It’s like strippers rapping and it went crazy,” Dupri explained to Atlanta Black Star.
“I was just like, this is so unfair,” Rae told Rolling Stone during an interview for the publication’s May 2021 cover story. “The conflicts of interest. The perpetuation of specific images, especially when it comes to Black women.”
So, she used the moment to help develop the pending show with Miami rap group the City Girls. Loosely based off the group’s rise to fame, the show will tell the story of two high school friends who reunite and form a rap group.
The eight-episode series is slated to premiere on HBO. In 2016, Rae inked a two-year deal with the network that was set to end in 2018, but given the success of “Insecure” a new deal was inked in March. Now, the former “Awkward Black Girl” will call HBO home for three more years.
“It’s really exciting to have that flexibility and just deepen the relationship that we already have,” Rae told Variety. “Hoorae [Rae’s production company] already had at least 15 projects in various stages of development with them, so we’d been working with them on the drama side, the unscripted side, and the documentaries side for a couple years now.”
The arrangement reportedly is an eight-figure film and television deal.
